Abstract
Flexible open celled foams are commonly used for energy absorption in packaging. Over time polymers can suffer from aging by becoming stiffer and more brittle. This change in stiffness can affect the foam’s performance in a low velocity impact event. In this study, the compressive properties of new open-cell flexible polyurethane foam were compared to those obtained from aged open-cell polyurethane foam that had been in service for approximately 25 years. The foams tested had densities of 10 and 15 pcf. These low density foams provided a significant challenge to machine cylindrical compression specimens that were 1 “in height and 1” in diameter. Details of the machining process are discussed. The compressive properties obtained for both aged and new foams included testing at various strain rates (0.05. 0.10, 5 s−1) and temperatures (−54, RT, 74 °C). Results show that aging of flexible polyurethane foam does not have much of an effect on its compressive properties.
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Reference
Morfa, J. Jr., Nissen, A., Werner, B.T.: DMA and Compression Tests on Flexible Polyurethane Foam. Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore (2015)
Acknowledgments
The work of April Nissen and Jose Morfa at Sandia National Laboratories helped to show that while the results may be counterintuitive, they are consistent with other measurement techniques on this particular material.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
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© 2017 The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc.
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Werner, B.T., Lu, WY., Connelly, K. (2017). Compression Testing of Aged Low Density Flexible Polyurethane Foam. In: Zhu, Y., Zehnder, A. (eds) Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Volume 4. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42028-8_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42028-8_17
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