What's Next in Sustainable Acoustic Materials?

Sammanfattning: As industries have begun to rethink the way they design, make and dispose of products for the purpose of sustainable development, manufacturers of acoustic products have been slow off the mark. The majority of acoustic products are still made of primarily virgin material made from petrochemical resources, which have a significant impact on the environment. This is problematic from an environmental standpoint, but also a commercial, as society is starting to favor materials fitting into a circular economy. Thus, consumers might break companies based on poor environmental strategy and branding. As it is clear that well designed acoustic environments can lead to improved wellbeing, an area which has gained recognition in the later years, it is important that acoustic products keep up with the new green economy. The purpose of this thesis was to answer the question, “What’s next in sustainable acoustic materials?”, with the presumption that a truly sustainable material for an acoustic solution already exists but has not yet been applied in an acoustic product. In this thesis, already existing (or upcoming) materials were evaluated with regards to their environmental properties, their applicability in acoustic products and how the materials with the highest potential could be used in an acoustic solution. Two distinct areas of interest characterize this thesis; firstly the material selection and its complexity regarding sustainability and secondly the development of an acoustic concept, BAUX Flight Mode, based on the aforementioned selection. The material search and selection process culminated in a list of 90 materials, which was filtered down to 12 materials with the help of a scoring system and later 3 through discussions and further analysis. The final design proposal, BAUX Flight Mode, was based on one of these materials, Circulose, which are cellulosic pulp sheets made from textile waste. The concept makes use of these sheets by joining them together and extending them around a wooden billet fastened in a wooden base unit. An important aspect permeating the whole concept being that it is easily assembled and disassembled without the use of any additional parts, as well as being easily recyclable in an existing system. The conclusion is that the generated design proposal is considered to provide a foundation onto which BAUX can develop a new, sustainable and unique product on the market, while at the same time offering the opportunity to redesign their business model.