Elastic behavior of multi-scale, open-cell foams

The mechanical properties of cellular materials are still subject to numerous theoretical and experimental investigations. In particular, the impact of cell size on the foam’s elastic response has not been studied systematically mainly due to the lack of experimental techniques with which the cell s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Composites. Part B, Engineering Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 172 - 183
Main Authors: Maheo, Laurent, Viot, Philippe, Bernard, Dominique, Chirazi, Ali, Ceglia, Gaétane, Schmitt, Véronique, Mondain-Monval, Olivier
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2013
Elsevier
Subjects:
A. Foams
Applied sciences
B. Elasticity
B. Microstructures
C. Computational modeling
Composites
Condensed Matter
Engineering Sciences
Exact sciences and technology
foams
Forms of application and semi-finished materials
Image analysis
Laminates
Materials and structures in mechanics
Materials Science
mathematical models
mechanical properties
Mechanics
microstructure
modulus of elasticity
nanomaterials
Physicochemistry of polymers
Physics
Polymer industry, paints, wood
polystyrenes
Soft Condensed Matter
Technology of polymers
Image analysis
B. Microstructures
B. Elasticity
C. Computational modeling
A. Foams
Elastic modulus
Open cell
Mechanical properties
Polymer
Nanostructure
Cellular plastic
Modeling
Finite element method
Preparation
Numerical simulation
Styrene polymer
Elastic properties
Plastics
Foams
Elasticity
Microstructures
Computational modeling
ISSN:1359-8368, 1879-1069
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The mechanical properties of cellular materials are still subject to numerous theoretical and experimental investigations. In particular, the impact of cell size on the foam’s elastic response has not been studied systematically mainly due to the lack of experimental techniques with which the cell size and relative density of materials can be varied independently. This paper presents the results of a study of the elastic behavior of open-cell foams as a function of relative density and the size of the interconnected, spherical pores. First, the chemical procedure allowed us to produce polystyrene open-cell foams in which the relative density and the average cell diameters were varied independently. The results of compression tests performed on these foams showed an unexpected influence of the cell diameter (at constant relative density) on the elastic response. The analysis of the microstructure of the foam revealed the presence of a complex nanostructure in the edge of the cells that appeared during the synthesis procedure. An analytical model (an extension of the Gibson–Ashby model) is presented, which takes into account the complex multi-scale structure of the foam and accurately describes the observed dependence of the measured Young’s moduli on cell size. This approach was confirmed further by a finite element numerical simulation. We concluded that the observed dependence of elastic modulus on cell size was due to the heterogeneous nature of the material that constitutes the walls of the cells.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2012.06.006
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1359-8368
1879-1069
DOI:10.1016/j.compositesb.2012.06.006