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Adhesives

One of Alpha’s specialties is the application of rubber-to-metal bonding adhesives onto a wide variety of components that can cause Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH). These are the metal and plastic parts on vehicles associated with noise — the engine, driveline, suspension, brakes, cooling fans, air-conditioners, alternators and wind. Many such noises begin as vibrations, are transmitted via a variety of paths, and radiated acoustically into the passenger cabin. Others are generated acoustically. Vibrations are sensed at the steering wheel, the seat or the floor and pedals. Some problems are sensed visually, such as the vibration of the header rail or rear-view mirror on convertibles with the top down.

There are three principal ways to improve NVH problems:

Reduce the source strength, such as damping a noise source with a muffler, or improving the balance of a rotating mechanism.
Interrupt the noise or vibration path, with barriers (for noise) or isolators (for vibration).
Absorb the noise or vibration energy, as with foam or rubber noise absorbers, or tuned vibration dampers.

Ways to reduce NVH include the use of tuned mass dampers, subframes, and balancing by modifying the stiffness or mass of structures, retuning exhausts and intakes, modifying the characteristics of elastomeric isolators, adding sound-deadening or absorbing material, or using active noise control. In some circumstances, substantial changes in vehicle architecture may be the only way to cure some problems cost-effectively.