Sound Damped Steel Ltd

Damped Steel

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Sound Damped Steel (SDS) manufactures and supplies highly damped materials, complete kits and components that solve a very wide range of noise and vibration control problems at very low cost. These include both OEM applications where our materials are built-in by design plus retro-fit materials and kits of parts to reduce noise on existing plant and machinery. 20dB+ attenuation is often practical.

Effective, rugged, hygienic and low cost – noise control made simple
Damped sheet metals
We manufacture sheets of high damping galvanised/stainless steel, aluminium etc to replace standard materials or for the manufacture of low noise parts such as guards, hoppers, covers, enclosures, brackets… These are low cost, rugged and high hygiene noise and vibration control materials, ideal for use by OEMs to create much quieter products with little or no changes required for manufacture.

Retro-fit noise control kits
Would you like to add instant attenuation to existing plant? We manufacture retro-fit kits of self-adhesive dampers that are an order of magnitude more effective than conventional stick-on damping. Viscoelastic adhesive packs and damped sheets cut to specification are also available to convert existing sheet metal components into effective noise reducing elements.

Noise control products
We design and manufacture bespoke noise control elements to solve specific noise problems. These include noise enclosures, acoustic barriers, lagging and sound absorbent panels.

Our products are also used in the world of high performance Hi-Fi equipment.

ACOUSTIC ABSORBENT WALL PANELS
In circumstances where sources are within highly reverberant areas and the noise is dominated by reflected sound of walls and other surfaces, then retro-fitting local acoustic absorbent panels can be a very simple and effective way to reduce noise levels by 5dB – 10dB – or even more.
The panels can also be installed on low ceilings and, in some circumstances, inside existing machine guards.

HIFI APPLICATIONS TO ENHANCE THE SOUND…
By their very nature, SDS damping products are very effective at reducing unwanted vibration in HiFi sound systems to enhance the listening experience. This is, if you like, a “refined” area of applications for the technology compared with industrial projects – but the principles are the same.

Sound Damped Steel HiFi products are sold under the Soundeck brand on the Soundeck website.

NOISE CONTROL IN VEHICLES AND MARINE APPLICATIONS
A key issue in the control of noise inside vehicles is how to prevent or reduce the transmission or re-radiation of vibration as sound. In addition, both weight and space are at a premium. Enter sound damped metal sheet and retro-damp adhesive dampers. Weight for weight they are an order of magnitude more effective than conventional unconstrained layer damping treatments, are more rugged and can be designed-in to the components – even complex formed components and using the same tooling.

ACOUSTIC ENCLOSURES – ADD PERFORMANCE
We can provide bespoke, custom designed and manufactured acoustic enclosure performance enhancement kits for particular applications, for one off projects or for OEM ranges. This can also extend to developing design improvements for existing OEM enclosures where the attenuation provided by the standard enclosure needs to be increased.

Available either as retro-fit or designed in from the start, our performance enhancing kits provide a very effective and low cost option to increase enclosure attenuation substantially.

How do I solve my noise or vibration reduction problem?
Contact us to discuss your application or to acquire samples of our damped metals. For many applications, that is all that is required. If the problem is more complex, we can often provide expert advice based solely on pictures, drawings and smartphone recordings sent to us by email. In addition to our in-house expertise, we also work with the best specialist noise and vibration engineering consultants such as the INVC. They have decades of experience from recommending our materials across a wide range of applications.

Buy Quiet customer policies – a commercial opportunity
An increasing number of organisations are implementing “Buy Quiet” purchasing policies to reduce their compliance costs under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations (as recommended in HSE guidance). Our products often provide a easy way to design-in quiet simply, at low cost and without the drawbacks of conventional noise control measures such as the temperature gains and restricted access implicit in enclosures. This means that you can supply quieter products at a substantially lower cost than competitors, giving you a significant commercial advantage.