Elastic constants of monotropic plastic foams. 2. Deformation parallel to foam rise direction. Numerical calculations

In order to perform numerical calculations of the elastic constants of monotropic plastic foams with a pronounced strut-like structure, a package of computing programs has been developed. Numerical values of the elastic constants were determined using the Simpson method for the calculation of triple averaging integrals and stepwise unconditional minimization of the one-argument potential energy function. The parameters of the numerical calculation process providing acceptable accuracy of the results were evaluated. Dimensions of the structural elements in the model of isotropic plastic foams were determined and analyzed.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Riga, LV-1006, Latvia. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 163–172, March–April, 1998.     

Calculation of Dependent Elastic Constants of Plastic Foams with a Pronounced Strut-Like Structure

Seven dependent elastic constants of monotropic plastic foams with an expressed strut-like structure are calculated. For this purpose, the basic results of the previously elaborated mathematical model for light-weight plastic foams is used. The model includes a model cell of local structure for monotropic/isotropic plastic foams and an ensemble of structural elements, which allows one to calculate the seven dependent elastic constants, taking into account the pronounced polydispersity of the structure of plastic foams. The numerical values of the constants are compared with the available experimental data, and a satisfactory agreement is found to exist. As a final result, a full set of general expressions and numerical values are obtained for all 12 elastic constants of monotropic plastic foams.     

Elastic constants of monotropic plastic foams. 3. Deformation parallel to foam rise direction. Analysis of the results

Based on an elaborate mathematical model shaped like an ellipsoidal cell, the Poisson's ratio v ₃₁ ^* and Young's modulusE ₃ ^* are calculated for monotropic (isotropic in the limiting case) plastic foams when loading parallel to the foam rise direction is considered and the hypothesis of half-axis is assumed. The effect of the state of the strut system on the calculation results is studied. The dependence of the calculated elastic constants on the characteristics of plastic foams such as the space filling coefficient, degree of anisotropy and knot parameter is analyzed. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental results as well as the results of other authors.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, University of Latvia, 23 Aizkraukles St., Riga, LV-1006, Latvia. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 823–838, November–December, 1998.     

Experimental Investigations on Polymeric Foams

The knowledge of the material behaviour of polymeric foams and their experimental investigation is the starting point for the structure of the chosen constitutive equations and for the following identification of the material constants therein. Especially for the parameter identification, it is necessary to make an adequate set of experimental data available. In this regard, it is important that the experiments make the different kinds of material behaviour visible like elastic, plastic or viscous material properties. For this reason, the foam is observed under uniaxial tension and compression and under simple shear tests combined with different deformation states in axial direction. Unfortunately, due to different reasons, e.g., the foam must be sticked on the fastener to realize the tests mentioned above, it is very difficult to initialize a homogenous deformation state in the specimen. Therefore, the experiments are recorded with a standard digital camcorder to get local information of the deformation state by tracking single points with algorithms of the digital image processing. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of cellular structure on the mechanical properties of plastic foams

A generalized equation for the compressive stress-strain diagrams of plastic foams is derived on the basis of a 14-faced model of the cell. The results obtained make it possible to predict the polymer base and type of cellular structure required to obtain a foam with predetermined mechanical properties in compression. The calculated values are shown to be in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data.Vladimir Scientific-Research Institute of Synthetic Resins. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 594–602, July–August, 1970.     

Model analysis of the cellular structure of plastic foams of the polyurethane type

A mathematical analysis of the mechanical properties of foam materials at the cellular structure level is given on the basis of a proposed 14-faced model of the cell of an opencelled plastic foam of the polyurethane type. The results obtained are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data even without the introduction of arbitrary constants.Vladimir Scientific Research Institute of Synthetic Resins. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 5, pp. 859–865, September–October, 1970.     

Model of Deformation of Monotropic Plastic Foams Parallel to the Foam Rise Direction Based on the Volume-Deformation Hypothesis

The deformation properties of monotropic plastic foams under uniaxial deformation (compression or tension) parallel to the foam rise direction is considered. The theoretical results are obtained in the case where the volume-deformation hypothesis is assumed. The validity of neglecting the fluctuation component in calculations of the effective volume strains of foams is substantiated. A tie condition permitting the sought-for semiaxes to vary not obligatorily equally is derived. The values of Young's modulus and Poisson coefficients are obtained for a wide range of model cell stretch ratios and foam space-filling coefficients. A comparison of the theoretical results with the experimental data available is performed.     

Deformative characteristics of plastics reinforced with high-modulus anisotropic fibers

The independent elastic constants of plastics unidirectionally reinforced with transversely isotropic fibers have been determined. It has been assumed that the distribution of reinforcement in a transverse section of the plastic is regularly rectangular or hexagonal. To determine the transverse elastic modulus and the shear modulus in the plane of reinforcement, a constancy-of-plane-sections hypothesis was used. Values of deformative characteristics determined by the assumed calculational dependences have been compared with the experimental ones for plastics reinforced with graphite fibers.Institute of Polymer Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, Riga. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 631–639, July–August, 1972.     

Structural Modeling in the Mechanics of Porous Materials

A new method for analyzing the deformation behavior of rigid and elastic foams with a small volume content of solid phase ( < 0.2) is developed. Various structural models for describing the elastic behavior of rigid and elastic plastic foams are used and compared. The results of structural simulation of anisotropic auxetic (i.e., having a negative Poisson ratio) foams with concave cells are presented. For cyclic uniaxial compression of rigid foams and volumetric deformation of elastic foams, the stress-strain curves are obtained. The general shape of the curves agrees well with the nonlinearly elastic behavior of plastic foams observed in experiments.     

Elastoplastic deformation during projectile–wall collision

The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method for elastic solid deformation is modified to include von Mises plasticity with linear isotropic hardening and is then used to investigate high speed collisions of elastic and elastoplastic bodies. The Lagrangian mesh-free nature of SPH makes is very well suited to these extreme deformation problems eliminating issues relating to poor element quality at high strains that limits finite element usage for these types of problems. It demonstrates excellent numerical stability at very high strains (of more than 200%). SPH can naturally track history dependent material properties such as the cumulative plastic strain and the degree of work hardening produced by its strain history. The high speed collisions modelled here demonstrate that the method can cope easily with collisions of multiple bodies and can also naturally resolve self-collisions of bodies undergoing high levels of plastic strain. The nature and the extent of the elastic and plastic deformation of a rectangular body impacting on an elastic wall and of an elastic projectile impacting on a thin elastic wall are investigated. The final plastically deformed shapes of the projectile and wall are compared for a range of material properties and the evolution of the maximum plastic strain throughout each collision and the coefficient of restitution are used to make quantitative comparisons. Both the elastoplastic projectile–elastic wall and the elastic projectile–elastoplastic wall type collisions have two distinct plastic flow regimes that create complex relationships between the yield stress and the responses of the solid bodies.     

New mathematical model for nonuniform deformation of composites

A new mathematical model is suggested for nonuniform deformation of composite materials valid for arbitrary external load gradients. As a basis stochastic equations are suggested for the statics of an elastic microinhomogeneous two-component material with volumetric forces differing from zero. Expressions are obtained for all coefficients in terms of elastic constants of the components and geometric parameters of the structure.Presented at the Ninth International Conference on the Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, October, 1995).Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 310–318, May–June, 1995.     

Collapse criteria of foam cells under various loading

Recently porous materials are widely used in civil and mechanical engineering. In particular, such porous materials as metal and polymer foams have applications in lightweight structures. From mechanics point of view foams can demonstrate unusual behavior such as strain localization related to foam cells buckling under certain loads. The aim of this work is the elaboration of the model of foam material taking into account the cell collapse. We consider the cell collapse initiation during the elastic instability and its further evolution under loading. The geometrical structure of foam is generated with the use of the Voronoi algorithm. Based on stochastic distributions of cells we create various geometrical models of foams. The influence of the cell volume, wall thicknesses and material properties of the foam material on critical loads is obtained. The calculations are performed with the use of Abaqus CAD/CAE system. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Comparative micromechanical analysis of nonelastic behavior of unidirectional plastics with tetragonal and hexagonal structures

A mathematical model for determining the effective elastic properties and describing the processes of inelastic deformation and damage accumulation of unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites with tetragonal and hexagonal structures is developed. A comparative analysis of the effective elastic moduli of glass, boron, organic, and carbon unidirectional plastics shows that, if the fiber volume fraction does not exceed 0.5, the effective elastic properties calculated by the models presented give closely related results. The calculation results for nonlinear fields of deformation and failure are presented and the limiting strength surfaces of fibrous glass plastics with hexagonal and tetragonal structures are obtained for different transverse loading paths. It is found that the structure of a composite affects significantly its strength properties.Submitted to the 11th International Conference on Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, June 11–15, 2000).Perm' State Technical University, Perm', Russia. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 455–464, July–August, 2000.     

Large Elastic Strains of Plastic Foams

The elastic deformation of plastic foams with a low (< 6%) volume fraction of solid phase is described based on a 4-rod equivalent element. A criterion is proposed which allows one to determine the parameter of structure of this element. Based on an analysis of the equivalent element, a procedure is developed for constructing the compression diagram of plastic foams in the region of large (> 70%) strains. The calculation results are compared with data found in the literature and experimental results for polyurethane foams obtained by the present authors. __________ Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 619–632, September–October, 2005.     

A Deformation Model of Monotropic Plastic Foams in Shear Perpendicularly to the Isotropy Plane

Based on an ellipsoidal model for the cellular structure of monotropic plastic foams, their deformational properties in shear perpendicularly to the isotropy plane are predicted. The theoretical results are obtained for the case of pure shear. The deformation energy is calculated by the method of coordinates assuming that the polymer struts of the structure can change both their length and orientation. Numerical values of shear moduli are found for monotropic and isotropic plastic foams, which agree satisfactorily with the experimental data for polyurethane and polyvinylchloride foams available in the literature.     

Analysis of elastomeric composites based on fiber-reinforced systems. 2. Unidirectional composites

The elastic properties of unidirectionally reinforced composite materials under large deformations are studied. The applied model for deformation of materials is based on the structural macroscopic theory of stiff and soft composites, including micro- and macromechanical levels of analysis of composite media. The properties of unidirectional elastomeric composites are studied in tension and shear in the plane of reinforcement. The microscopic fields in the structural components of composites having poorly compressible and compressible matrices are also analyzed. Changes in the parameters of macroscopic deformation of the composites are examined as functions of the loading parameters and initial conditions of the structure. The evolution of the structural changes in deformed composite materials is described.State Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 29–50, January–February, 1999.     

Deformability modelling of foam elongation

The relationships concerning the deformation of rigid cellular foams during elongation are reviewed under the conditions of a monotonous load increase. The cellular structure behavior is modelled by the operation of a certain piston structure. The proposed equation leads to a satisfactory approximation of the experimental stress-strain diagram for polystyrene and poly(vinyl chloride) foams.V. A. Kucherenko Central Scientific-Research Institute of Building Constructions, Moscow. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 1, pp. 154–157, January–February, 1972.     

A Deformation Model for Monotropic Plastic Foams under Compression/Tension Perpendicularly to the Foam Rise Direction

The deformation properties of monotropic plastic foams under uniaxial compression or tension perpendicularly to the foam rise direction are considered. Theoretical results are obtained for the case where the volume- deformation hypothesis is assumed. In order to perform numerical calculations, the foams are devided into three groups with different degrees of monotropy. For these groups, different methods of calculating the numerical value of the relative volume strain are used. The Young's modulus in the plane of isotropy is determined using both the mixed Reuss-Voigt and Voigt averaging. The Poisson ratios are expressed using the Reuss averaging. If only the axial deformation of the load-bearing elements (polymer struts) is allowed for, the results obtained do not agree with experimental data. Therefore, we also take into account the changes in their orientation. The values of Young's modulus and Poisson ratios are obtained for a wide range of degrees of extension of the model cell. A comparison of the theoretical results with the experimental data available shows a satisfactory agreement.     

Deformation of elastic polyurethanes with a bimodal cellular structure

This article examines the cellular structure and mechanical properties of elastic foamed polyurethanes with a bimodal cellular structure (BFPUs). It is shown that the sizes of the oval cells (3–12 mm) in the elastic foamed polyurethenes that are studied are a tenth of an order greater than the sizes of the polyhedral cells (0.1–0.6 mm). Conversely, for rigid foamed polyurethanes, the polyhedral cells are more than a tenth of an order larger than the oval cells (microcells). The equations of the compression curve of BFFUs are found, and it is established that the deformation of BFPUs is determined by the deformation function of the cellular structure and the viscoelastic properties of the polymer matrix. The deformation functions of the cellular structure and the relaxation properties of BFPUs are determined. It is shown that choosing BFPUs with a cellular structure improves the comfort properties of the foamed material: the softness coefficient increased by 8–19% in the investigated case, while the support coefficient increased by 15–35%.Paper presented at the IX International Conference on the Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, 1995).Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 330–339, May–June, 1996.     

Deformative properties of flexible plastic foams in compression

A calculation of the compression diagrams of flexible plastic foams during their long-time testing under a load is given on the basis of the proposed cell model, on the assumption that permanent set is related to buckling of the strands. The character of change of the nominal compressive strength and corresponding deformation as a function of the magnitude of permanent set is established. A marked change of the second section of the compression diagram (plateau), even to its degeneration, in the presence of considerable permanent set was found. A comparison of the experimental and calculated data showed their satisfactory correspondence.Vladimir Research Institute of Synthetic Resins. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 443–449, May–June, 1973.