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Oil palm Mesocarp from oil palm tree is an abundantly natural fiber in Malaysia. This work was carried out to investigate the acoustic absorption coefficient of the oil palm Mesocarp fiber as a porous material. Four different of binder percentages which are 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%. The fiber were mixed with Polyurethane (PU) as binder. The measurement of sound absorption coefficient was done by using analytical and experimental method whereas Johnson-Champoux-Allard model and Impedance Tube Method respectively. This study also investigated the physical properties of the samples. The binder wads the fiber tightly causing the pores closed and consequently resulting in lower flow resistivity and porosity. The viscous characteristic length and density were inversely to the flow resistivity and porosity value. It shows that more percentages of binder produced more compacted (denser) the material and the stiffness of the material were affected. Johnson-Champoux-Allard model were predicted the absorption coefficient very well. The sample with 10 percent PU binder show the superior performance in most of low to mid frequency range. However, sample with 20 percent PU binder reach the high value of sound absorption of 0.99 at 1000 Hz. Finally, it can be concluded that the sound absorption material of oil palm Mesocarp as accomplished in this research shows this material is capable to be used for sound absorption panel in various applications.

Sound absorption; natural fiber; oil palm mesocarp; noise reduction coefficient; Johnson-Champoux-Allard