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.