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. 2023 Apr 24;15(9):2025.
doi: 10.3390/polym15092025.

Three-Dimensional Printing Process for Musical Instruments: Sound Reflection Properties of Polymeric Materials for Enhanced Acoustical Performance

Tomáš Zvoníček  1 , Martin Vašina  1 , Vladimír Pata  2 , Petr Smolka  1   3
Affiliations

Three-Dimensional Printing Process for Musical Instruments: Sound Reflection Properties of Polymeric Materials for Enhanced Acoustical Performance

Tomáš Zvoníček et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Acoustical properties of various materials were analyzed in order to determine their potential for the utilization in the three-dimensional printing process of stringed musical instruments. Polylactic acid (PLA), polyethylene terephthalate with glycol modification (PET-G), and acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) filaments were studied in terms of sound reflection using the transfer function method. In addition, the surface geometry parameters (Sa, Sq, Sz, and Sdr) were measured, and their relation to the acoustic performance of three-dimensional-printed samples was investigated. It was found that a higher layer height, and thus a faster printing process, does not necessarily mean poor acoustical properties. The proposed methodology also proved to be a relatively easy and rapid way to test the acoustic performance of various materials and the effect of three-dimensional printing parameters to test such a combination at the very beginning of the production process.

Keywords: 3D printing; fused deposition modeling; musical instrument; sound reflection coefficient; surface texture.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Electric violoncello produced by the FDM additive manufacturing technique [27].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sample dimensions.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Infill structures: (A) Gyroid, (B) Grid, and (C) Cubic.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic of the acoustic impedance tube. Legend to the symbols: M—measured sample; M1, M2—measuring microphones; S—sound source; t—sample thickness; W—solid wall—ideal sound reflection; x1, x2—microphone distances from the tested sample surface.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Surface parameters: (a) Average roughness evaluated over the complete 3D surface, (b) root mean square roughness evaluated over the complete 3D surface, and (c) maximum height of the areal surface.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of the material type on sound reflection properties. Lh = 0.3 mm.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of layer height on frequency dependencies of the sound reflection coefficient (β) in the Gyroid infill type of PET-G.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effect of layer height on frequency dependencies of the sound reflection coefficient (β) in the Cubic infill type of PET-G.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Effect of layer height on frequency dependencies of the sound reflection coefficient (β) in the Grid infill type of PET-G.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effect of layer height on frequency dependencies of the sound reflection coefficient (β) in the Gyroid infill type of ASA.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Effect of layer height on frequency dependencies of the sound reflection coefficient (β) in the Cubic infill type of ASA.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Effect of layer height on frequency dependencies of the sound reflection coefficient (β) in the Grid infill type of ASA.
Figure 13
Figure 13
The micrographs of the surface texture affected by the printing parameters’ setting: 0.1 mm layer height (left), 0.3 mm layer height (middle), and 0.5 mm layer height (right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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