Speaker
Description
This article presents the preliminary results of a study conducted by the Department of Architecture at the University of Florence in collaboration with the Italian National Consortium for the Recovery and Recycling of Cellulose-Based Packaging (COMIECO), focusing on the use of recycled cellulose-based materials for acoustic comfort in indoor environments. The study investigates various configurations of honeycomb cardboard panels (smooth or laser perforated with 1, 5, and 10 mm holes) coupled with layers of cellulose flakes or polyester fibers. The main objective is to overcome the limitations of traditional paper-based materials, which are typically effective only at medium and high frequencies, in order to achieve significant performance across a broad range of the sound spectrum. Experimental tests, conducted in a simplified reverberant environment and validated using a pressure-velocity (p-u) probe, demonstrate the effectiveness of acoustic and membrane resonance mechanisms, the latter being particularly active around 200 Hz in unglued panels. The results confirm that these eco-design solutions can offer performance comparable to traditional synthetic materials, supporting the principles of the circular economy in the construction sector.