Extensive research by 3M Acoustic Solutions, a global supplier of acoustic products and solutions, has led to the introduction of Thinsulate Compressible (TC) Series High Performance Acoustic Insulation. The TC Series of products are a proprietary family of high performance, low density, non-woven acoustic absorbers that are cavity filling, compressible, and conformable. These new performance attributes make the acoustic absorbers ideal for novel designs in traditional applications. Multiple applications exist in the marine market including irregularly shaped areas that are usually difficult to treat, such as the headliner, instrument panel, or console.

For example, a typical headliner space may range from 10-30 mm, while the traditional absorber package may be one or more materials having a complex design and occupying 7-25 mm of the allowable space.  Because TC series products are conformable and compressible, the design engineer can now create a single component, single part acoustic package which overcomes typical sound package design restraints such as clearance or tolerance.

The initial market entry consists of four products with two weights and two surface configurations. 

When an acoustic cavity, such as a door, pillar or headliner, is filled by a part made of TC Series, more sound is captured in the material rather than passing over the absorber.  Components made with TC Series also compress readily, leading to increased energy dissipation, which improves acoustic performance.

In addition to design advantages, the TC Series of non-woven absorbers offers substantial advantages compared to other 3M acoustical products.  For example, TC 3303 offers half the density and a 25 percent better noise reduction coefficient (NRC) than 3M acoustical products of similar price. TC 2203 also provides similar performance to these same products, but is half the density and is priced about 25 percent less per square foot.