Barium Sound Deadening - How Effective Is It?

[villeneuve]

Hi there,

I'm sure a few of you have heard the three words, barium and sound deadening together before, and i'm wondering if anyone here knows how effective it really is.
Some websites suggest that it is a "reflective" barrier, but many say that it actually "absorbs" sound energy (and turns it into heat).
Of course it's not a good thing if it reflects sound, but I find it hard to believe that such a dense material can actually absorb sound.

Can anyone please clarify this? And has anyone here actually had experience with it?

I'm currently applying it to the inner walls of my enclosures, where acoustic tiles will also be applied on top. Hopefully it is as good as some websites suggest.

 

[PigletsDad]

I'm surprised that these are approved for domestic use; barium is a fairly toxic element that builds up in the body. Barium sulfate is used for the so-called "barium meal" in xray work, but normally barium compounds are viewed as dangerous, especially if they can form dust that might be inhaled.

I used to work on high temperature superconductors (which contain barium), and we had careful handling systems, special dust extraction and lots of monitoring.

 

[Aleksrussian]

All I know about this subject is that Barium adds mass to the sheets or panels you are attaching(ed) when you add mass you lower the resonating frequency of the structure. Lead a heavy metal has been used in the past for these sound deadening benefits. In order for you not to have to apply many layers some manufacturers add barium to their products to increase the mass faster with less material.

 

[davidsrsb]

Barium sulphate is considered non-toxic. There is some issue with the (inert) dust lodging in the lungs, but this has not stopped it being used in paint and plastics. I suppose it is being used as an alternative to lead for adding mass

 

[nhuwar]

barium sulphate is basically dirt. Got lots of it, lol.

 

[slr 5000]

the thinner the cab walls your applying it to the better it works
if your applying it to 18mm thick material then forget it

see the bbc thin wall speaker paper its the same principle

Sheafer

 

[Aleksrussian]

the thinner the cab walls your applying it to the better it works
if your applying it to 18mm thick material then forget it

see the bbc thin wall speaker paper its the same principle

Sheafer

Explain? so you are saying the thinner the metal that you apply the sound deadening material the better it works? The only reason I can think of why that would be is because the thinner the material the higher the resonating frequency is, which mean when you sound deaden the effect is more dramatic. I don't think it works any less on thicker material just thicker material will already have a lower resonating frequency so it doesn't need much to be inaudible.

 

[slr 5000]

read the bbc study and you will understand

if your going to apply dampening say lead for instance to a speaker wall panel then you want the weight per square of that material to be greater than the weight per square of the panel you are dampening
so it is much easier to damp a thin panel than thick

I chose 12mm marine ply with lead lining
it is very affective

bbc uses 12 or 15mm ply with a bituminous almost Masonite like panel glued to the inside

Sheafer

 

[Aleksrussian]

Okay I understand that. Yours is only 12 mil? I just bought 110mil GTmat, the resonating frequency is lower the more mass you add, the lower the resonating frequency the more difficult it is to hear it. So IMO the more weight you add to a car panel the quieter it will seem regardless of its thickness, but the thicker the material the more you need on it

 

[mohsen noorbakhsh]

Barium Sound Deadening

Dear sir
i am mohsen noorbakhsh from iran. i am expert in magnetic material ( hard ferrite) hard ferrite make two type barium ferrite and strontium ferrite
you can use barium ferrite powder in making of BITUMINOUS BASED SOUND DEADENERS and shap is flat and use in body of car and damping vibration in body of car and 66% use barium ferrite powder is adhesive and 34% another material