Airsoft Hawaii
would like to thank
for their support of the
2007 ASH BASH
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By Grant Woo
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Sound is a pressure wave of air. It spreads in all directions like ripples in water. It spreads out in all directions from it’s source of origin and if it hits something it can be absorbed or deflected. The muzzle noise of an airsoft gun is caused by the pressure generated by the gas used to propel the bb. Silencers can decrease the amount of sound from an airsoft gun by using materials to deflect and/or absorb these pressurized air waves. Absorbers reduce sound waves by taking the energy and converting it into heat. By lowering the energy of the sound wave the amount of sound it produces is decreased. Absorbers basically trap the sound. Open-celled foam and similar soft materials make good sound absorbers. Dense fiber materials such as fiberglass also work well. Just as a side note, the amount of sound that is absorbed is expressed by the material’s Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC). With absorption type silencers the effectiveness is dependant on the NRC and how much absorption material is in the silencer (bigger is better). Most silencers available for airsoft use absorbers- usually open-celled foam. Tokyo Marui used open-celled foam in their SOCOM, P90 and Pro-Silencers. Guarder uses a fiber material in their silencers. Laylax used a dense foam material in their Mode 2 and First silencers. Some models, such as the Carbon Fiber silencers, use a dense foam layer surrounded by a layer of softer open-celled foam. This combination makes a very quiet and effective silencer.
Deflectors reduce sound by reflecting sound waves back to the source and by blocking sound them. The shape and angle of the deflector can determine the direction of reflected sound waves. A good deflector can channel the sound back to the gun and not to the person being shot at. Deflectors should be made of dense materials that wont transmit sound, such as lead or vinyl. Materials that are porous, fibrous, or able to vibrate or resonate do not make good sound deflectors. KSC silencers use deflectors in their SOCOM, M11, and TMP silencers. Killer Studio also uses a deflector system in their custom guns such as the Cyber AUG.
Some silencers combine absorption and deflection. If done right this combination could effectively kill sound transmission. Sound waves will lose their energy as they pass through the absorber. Then they will be redirected when they hit the deflector and lose more energy as they pass through the absorber again. This basically doubles the effectiveness of the sound absorbing material. This absorption/deflection combination can be found in the Tokyo Marui VSR-10 G-Spec silencer.
There are other ways to make an airsoft gun silent. One is an air brake, as found on the VSR-10 Pro-Sniper and G-Spec. This creates a cusion of air which prevents the piston from hitting the cylinder head. Another method is a cusion or buffer system, like the Laylax PSS10 Silent Damper, also for the VSR-10. But this write up is on silencers, so I'll keep that for another day.
Editorial Note: |
