What is Mass Loaded Vinyl?
Many different industries make use of heavy machinery to facilitate their work. By its very nature, such machinery creates very high levels of noise, which can cause serious damage to employees' hearing even when they are equipped with the appropriate PPE. Health and Safety laws thus require that super-loud machinery is fitted with systems that dampen sound in order to ensure that employees can work safely around such machinery. Widely used for LNG plant and oil platforms MLV can offer superior acoustic transmission loss.
The vital insulation systems used within oil and gas processing plants are one of the key areas in which sound-dampening is required. Thanks to its unrivalled effectiveness in providing the elevated level of protection required in these facilities, mass loaded vinyl (SoundMat) is widely used. In this edition of the BS Stainless blog, we look in more detail at mass loaded vinyl and its salient qualities.
The material is, in accordance with ISO 15665, loaded with an inorganic compound called barium sulphate to create a flexible, heavy-duty barrier that reliably reduces noise transmission to an acceptable level. Manufactured using naturally-occurring materials of ultra-high density, mass loaded vinyl displays a unique versatility that sees it used in a wide variety of areas, including lightweight ceilings/walls, inside cavities and around LNG and cryogenic pipeline systems.
The PVC used to create mass loaded vinyl makes the material especially safe, as well as being environmentally-friendly thanks to its ability to be 100% recycled. A key quality of mass loaded vinyl is its aforementioned flexibility, which ensures that it offers exceptional absorption of not only sound but also of vibration. Further enhancing the desirability of the material is its strong resistance to the damage that can potentially be caused by many types of chemicals, including acids, alkalies, greases and mineral oils.
Mass loaded vinyl is available to purchase from BS Stainless as SoundMat in many different weights and sizes from 10kg per square metre down to just 2kg per square metre. For special applications, we can also supply mass loaded vinyl for use in extreme-temperature environments, with glass reinforcement or with added fire resistance that meets the BS 476 standard as well as relevant international specification. Availble foil faced or with a self adhesive backing with peel of layer. The properties of the vinyl can be changed for example to make more dense. We can produce vinyl that will reduce sound by a specific amoutn in decibels to meet you clients needs. Even thickness can be reduced yet still hit the target.
SoundMat mass loaded vinyl is produced to order in around 3 weeks, this means we can offer as a plain unbranded product or even with your own corporate branding and labeling. Manufactured in the UK we can export to most areas of the world.
One of the many achievements of BS Stainless is the development of a unique system that allows mass loaded vinyl to be seamlessly bonded to stainless steel, aluminium and a range of other metals as sound barrier jacketing : please visit the product pages of SoundMet® and VibroMet® for more details about these groundbreaking materials.