Grant: Idea to Innovation

This project aims at developing a method and apparatus to rapidly reticulate closed-cell or partially closed-cell foams to improve their acoustic and filtering behaviors. Following the preliminary demonstration of this inventive concept using a lab scale reticulation system and one type of foam, this Idea-to-Innovation Phase I project is directed at optimizing the performance and industrial application of the invented reticulation process by testing it on several materials representative of a large spectrum of applications and building and validating a medium-scale apparatus to demonstrate eventual industrial applicability. The proposed methodology addresses these objectives through a combination of experimental and numerical methods. It is articulated around three work packages: (i) conducting a thorough investigation of the parameters controlling the reticulation using several types of foams representatives of various industrial applications (aerospace, automotive, marine and building); (ii) designing and manufacturing a medium scale prototype and (iii) use the scale-up prototype to clearly demonstrate the performance and superiority of our technology compared to classically used methods. The success of this project should have a significant impact in terms of scientific advances and technological improvements within the manufacturing and use of open-cell foams for noise control. The technology developed in this research is generic and is applicable to acoustic problems in the transport sector, aviation industry and the construction sector. Moreover, two highly qualified people will be trained through this project; they will be able to support Canadian industries (aerospace, automotive, absorption materials).