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.     

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.     

Characteristics of a viscoplastic material in the couette flow

A model governing a steady flow of a viscoplastic material between coaxial cylinders is proposed. Nonlinear velocity sensitivity typical of superplastic materials is taken into account. An algorithm of calculating the characteristics of the material is developed. The algorithm is based on the experimental data on moments and angular velocities of the rotating coaxial cylinders. The stability of the algorithm to errors in the initial data is estimated.