Mechanical and Acoustic Properties of Alloys Used for Musical Instruments

Mariana Domnica Stanciu; Mihaela Cosnita; Constantin Nicolae Cretu; Horatiu Draghicescu Teodorescu; Mihai Trandafir

doi:10.3390/ma15155192

Mechanical and Acoustic Properties of Alloys Used for Musical Instruments

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jul 26;15(15):5192. doi: 10.3390/ma15155192.

Authors

Mariana Domnica Stanciu¹, Mihaela Cosnita², Constantin Nicolae Cretu³, Horatiu Draghicescu Teodorescu¹, Mihai Trandafir¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Transilvania University of Brașov, B-dul Eroilor 29, 500036 Brasov, Romania.
² Department of Product Design Mechatronics and Environment, Transilvania University of Brasov, B-dul Eroilor 29, 500036 Brasov, Romania.
³ Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, Transilvania University of Brasov, B-dul Eroilor 29, 500036 Brasov, Romania.

Abstract

Music should be integrated into our daily activities due to its great effects on human holistic health, through its characteristics of melody, rhythm and harmony. Music orchestras use different instruments, with strings, bow, percussion, wind, keyboards, etc. Musical triangles, although not so well known by the general public, are appreciated for their crystalline and percussive sound. Even if it is a seemingly simple instrument being made of a bent metal bar, the problem of the dynamics of the musical triangle is complex. The novelty of the paper consists in the ways of investigating the elastic and dynamic properties of the two types of materials used for musical triangles. Thus, to determine the mechanical properties, samples of material from the two types of triangles were obtained and tested by the tensile test. The validation of the results was carried out by means of another method, based on the modal analysis of a ternary system; by applying the intrinsic transfer matrix, the difference between the obtained values was less than 5%. As the two materials behaved differently at rupture, one having a ductile character and the other brittle, the morphology of the fracture surface and the elementary chemical composition were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and analysis by X-ray spectroscopy with dispersion energy (EDX). The results were further transferred to the finite element modal analysis in order to obtain the frequency spectrum and vibration modes of the musical triangles. The modal analysis indicated that the first eigenfrequency differs by about 5.17% from one material to another. The first mode of vibration takes place in the plane of the triangle (transverse mode), at a frequency of 156 Hz and the second mode at 162 Hz, which occurs due to vibrations of the free sides of the triangle outside the plane, called the torsion mode. The highest dominant frequency of 1876 Hz and the sound speed of 5089 m/s were recorded for the aluminum sample with the ductile fracture in comparison with the dominant frequency of 1637 Hz and the sound speed of 4889 m/s in the case of the stainless steel sample, characterized by brittle fracture.

Keywords: aluminum; elastic properties; intrinsic transfer matrix; stainless steel; tensile test; triangle.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by a grant from the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, UEFISCDI, PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-2148, project number. 568PED/2020 MINOVIS, Innovative models of violins acoustically and aesthetically comparable to heritage violins, within PNCDI III.