The elastic and plastic mechanical responses of microcellular foams

Abstract

AbstractMicrocellular foams were prepared by the thermally induced phase‐separation technique, which yields materials having very small cell dimensions (0.1–20μm). The polymers employed were isotactic polystyrene, polyacrylonitrile, poly(4‐methyl‐1‐pentene), polyurethane, and Lycra® and the resulting foams all had densities in the range 0.04–0.27 g cm−3. Values of Young's modulus and the collapse stress for these foams were measured and compared with predictions for conventional foams containing defects. Also investigated were plastic deformations, some time‐dependent behavior, and Poisson's ratio. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.