The mechano-sorptive behavior of flexible water-blown polyurethane foams

Samples of flexible water-blown slabstock polyurethane foams were compressed under constant load to study the effects of cycling moisture content on creep behavior and compare this behavior with the creep response where either a constant high or low moisture environment existed at the same temperature. Three sets of foams were tested: (1) 4 pph water content slabstock foam; (2) 5 pph water content slabstock foam; and (3) 2 pph water content molded foam. As the moisture conditions were cycled from low to high humidity while maintaining constant temperature in an environmental chamber, the compressive strain increased in subsequent steps with larger increases observed during the desorption portion of the humidity cycling. All three sets of foams showed similar behavior at a given temperature. At a temperature of 40°C, the strain levels under cyclic moisture conditions surpassed those levels observed at the highest constant relative humidity. During the first absorption step, the creep level increased. During any subsequent absorption step, the creep level either increased very little or none at all. Finally, during any desorption step, the creep level increased. This overall phenomenon of enhanced creep under cyclic moisture levels is attributed to water interacting with the hydrogen bonded structure within the foam. These hydrophillic interactions, principally promoted within the hard segment regions due to high hydrogen bonding, are disrupted causing slippage and increased in strain. As the foam is rapidly dired, regions of free volume are induced by the loss of water thus causing further increases in strain Prior to the reestablishment of well ordered hydrogen bonding. Further support to this proposition was given by the results obtained at a temperature of 90° C where it is well known that hydrogen bonds are much more mobile. Here, the strain levels under cyclic moisture conditions were nearly the same as those under constant high relative humidity. Weakening of the hydrogen bonds by means such as increased temperature resulted in similar strain levels to those under cyclic moisture levels. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of particulate reinforcement on creep behavior of polyurethane foams

The compressive creep behavior of rigid unreinforced and particulate reinforced polyurethane foams at different densities, filler contents, temperatures, and loads was investigated. The creep behavior could be described by a power function of time and its temperature dependence by an Arrhenius type relation. The addition of particulate rigid fillers enhances the creep resistance as well as the foam elastic modulus. Particulate reinforcement of polyurethane foams was found to be efficient for the higher foam densities, especially for higher filler levels.     

Characterization of flexible polyurethane foams based on soybean‐based polyols

Two series of flexible polyurethane foams were fabricated by substituting conventional petroleum‐based polyols with increasing amounts of soy‐based polyols (SBP) having different hydroxyl numbers. The mechanical properties of the foams were characterized by stress–strain analysis in the compression mode and DMA in tension mode, the cellular morphology was analyzed by SEM and the microphase‐separation of the foams was noted by SAXS. Our results showed that the cellular morphology and mechanical properties of the flexible foams were affected significantly by the foam fabrication method and SBP hydroxyl numbers. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Effect of gas-phase tortuosity on the mechanical properties of low-density polyolefin open-cell foams at low- and high-strain rates

This paper describes the mechanical behavior in compression, at both low- and high-strain rates, of several low-density open-cell polyolefin-based foams with different gas phase interconnectivities and different levels of gas-phase tortuosity. The mechanical properties of the open-cell polyolefin foams have been compared with two different references: an open-cell low tortuous foam based on flexible polyurethane and closed-cell polyolefin foams. One the one hand, at low-strain rates, it has been observed that the mechanical performance is controlled by the open-cell content and the properties of the polymeric matrix, being the influence of tortuosity small. On the other hand, the influence of the level of tortuosity is critical to high-strain rates. In fact, it has been demonstrated that open-cell polyolefin foams with high tortuosity (HT) present an unexpected mechanical behavior, showing excellent mechanical properties, which are even similar to that of closed-cell polyolefin materials with the same chemical composition. Therefore, low-density polyolefin foams with HT have a unique mechanical performance strongly influenced by the strain rate. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48468.     

Hard elastic behavior in polyurethane foams

Hard elastic behavior is characterized by high porosity and high recoverability from large strain, and initial Hookean elasticity was discovered in polyurethane foams containing styrene–acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymer particles. The presence of SAN particles introduces a heterogeneous morphology, and when the foam was strained in the SEM, it was observed that the struts became highly porous with profuse voiding nucleated by the SAN particles. It was found that these flexible polyurethane foams had a similar morphological structure in the strained struts as did the typical hard elastic materials. The phenomenon of stress depression, when foam specimens under stress were subjected to nonswelling liquids, was utilized to probe the role of surface stress in these hard elastic foams. An analytic methodology established for other highly porous hard elastic materials based on stress depression was utilized to obtain the average distance between voids in the struts. The calculated values were in good agreement with direct scanning electron microscopy observations, confirming that voiding initiated at the boundaries of SAN particles.     

Some aspects of the mechanical response of BMI 5250‐4 neat resin at 191°C: Experiment and modeling

The inelastic deformation behavior of BMI‐5250‐4 neat resin, a high‐temperature polymer, was investigated at 191°C. The effects of loading rate on monotonic stress–strain behavior as well as the effect of prior stress rate on creep behavior were explored. Positive nonlinear rate sensitivity was observed in monotonic loading. Creep response was found to be significantly influenced by prior stress rate. Effect of loading history on creep was studied in stepwise creep tests, where specimens were subjected to a constant stress rate loading followed by unloading to zero stress with intermittent creep periods during both loading and unloading. The strain‐time behavior was strongly influenced by prior deformation history. Negative creep was observed on the unloading path. In addition, the behavior of the material was characterized in terms of a nonlinear viscoelastic model by means of creep and recovery tests at 191°C. The model was employed to predict the response of the material under monotonic loading/unloading and multi‐step load histories. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Evaluation of cushioning properties of plastic foams from compressive measurements

Evaluation criteria for the cushioning properties of plastic foams were developed on the basis of their stress-strain curves. The energy-absorption efficiency and ideality parameters have maxima when plotted against stress. The maximum in the efficiency curve represents the strain range where maximum energy is absorbed by the foam at the corresponding stress; the higher and flatter this maximum, the better the cushioning properties of the foam. The maximum in the ideality curve represents the range where the foam transmits a constant force to the packaged product. Two flexible polyurethane foams and two semirigid bonded polyurethane chipfoams were evaluated by the proposed method.     

Viscoelastic behavior of flexible slabstock polyurethane foam as a function of temperature and relative humidity. II. Compressive creep behavior

The compression creep behavior was monitored at constant temperature and/or relative humidity for two slabstock foams with different hard-segment content. The tests were performed by applying a constant load (free falling weight) and then monitoring the strain as a function of time over a 3-h time period. A near linear relationship is obtained for linear strain versus log time after a short induction period for both foams and at most conditions studied (except at temperatures near and above 125°C). The slope of this relationship or the initial creep rate is dependent on the initial strain level, espcially in the range of 10–60% deformation. This dependence is believed to be related to the cellular structs buckling within this range of strain. At deformations greater than 60% and less than 10%, the solid portion of the foam is thought to control the compressive creep behavior in contrast to the cellular texture. Increasing relative humidity does cause a greater amount of creep to occur and is believed to be a result of water acting as a plasticizer. For low humidities increasing the temperature from 30 to 85°C, a decrease in the rate of creep is observed at a 65% initial deformation. At 125°C, an increase in the creep rate is seen and is believed to be related to chemical as well as additional structural changes taking place in the solid portion of the foams. The creep rate is higher for the higher hard-segment foam (34 wt %) than that of the lower (21 wt %) at all of the conditions studied and for the same initial deformation level. This difference is principally attributed to the greater amount of hydrogen bonds available for disruption in the higher hard-segment foam. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Experimental investigation of the delayed behavior of unsaturated argillaceous rocks by means of Digital Image Correlation techniques

We present an experimental study on the delayed behavior of unsaturated argillaceous rocks, including shrinkage, swelling, and creep, by means of Digital Image Correlation (DIC) techniques. In order to measure the very low strain rate of the argillaceous rocks at various scales (100 μm–cm) under uniaxial compression and various environmental conditions, a specific optimized optical setup was used. The natural argillaceous rocks were hydrated or dehydrated by controlling the ambient humidity around the samples, and the obtained unsaturated samples were then subjected to creep tests at different stress levels. The mechanical response to hydration and dehydration strongly depended on the mechanical loading, which induced an additional deformation. During creep, the strain rate increased when the moisture or the applied stress increased. The strain rate at a relative humidity of 75% was about one order of magnitude larger than at a dried state (relative humidity = 25%). The anisotropy of the strain induced by the moisture and mechanical loading was enhanced over time. The time dependent behavior as observed at different scales (100 μm–cm) is discussed.     

Characterization of flexible slabstock foams containing lithium chloride

Characterization of a series of flexible polyurethane foams that contain LiCl in their formulation is discussed. These foams were developed in order to provide an alternative method to produce foams without physical blowing agents and still attempt to maintain specific important physical properties. Three high water content foams of varying LiCl content have been characterized by utilizing several morphological techniques as well as by their viscoelastic behavior. From a morphological standpoint, it appears that by adding LiCl to the formulation, there is less formation of urea-rich aggregates that occur when LiCl is absent. Also, the hard segments are more dispersed as single units within the network. The cellular texture of the LiCl-containing foams also shows a greater amount of cellular window material than the same foam without LiCl. Both of these changes due to LiCl addition are believed to bring about a significant increase in the amount of viscoelastic decay. This decay has been observed in tensile stress relaxation, compression load relaxation, and compressive creep studies. Temperature also has a more significant effect on the compression load relaxation behavior of foams with LiCl in their formulation than when absent. These differences in viscoelastic behavior between foams with and without LiCl in their formulation are attributed to the greater mobility of the hard segments in the presence of the LiCl additive serving as a localized “hard segment” plasticizer that also promotes more phase mixing in the foams. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Microstructure and physical properties of open‐cell polyolefin foams

The cellular structure, physical properties, and structure–property relationships of novel open‐cell polyolefin foams produced by compression molding and based on blends of an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer and a low‐density polyethylene have been studied and compared with those of closed‐cell polyolefin foams of similar chemical compositions and densities and with those of open‐cell polyurethane foams. Properties such as the elastic modulus, collapse stress, energy absorbed in mechanical tests, thermal expansion, dynamic mechanical response, and acoustic absorption have been measured. The experimental results show that the cellular structure of the analyzed materials has interconnected cells due to the presence of large and small holes in the cell walls, and this structure is clearly different from the typical structure of open‐cell polyurethane foams. The open‐cell polyolefin foams under study, in comparison with closed‐cell foams of similar densities and chemical compositions, are good acoustic absorbers; they have a significant loss factor and lower compressive strength and thermal stability. The physical reasons for this macroscopic behavior are analyzed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Effect of molecular weight and branch content on the creep behavior of oriented polyethylene

Creep studies were carried out on a range of homopolymers and copolymers of polyethylene with well‐defined molecular weight and branch content. The creep data were analyzed in terms of two thermally activated processes acting in parallel and the effects of molecular weight and branch content are discussed. It is shown that increasing either the number‐average molecular weight or the weight‐average molecular weight gives improved creep behavior at all stress levels. The introduction of butyl branches leads to lower creep at low‐stress levels but can give rise to higher creep at high stress. Plots of the equilibrium log₁₀(strain rate) versus stress at fixed draw ratio (strain) can be used to define sections through a unique true stress/true strain/strain rate surface for each material. These creep results have an additional value in terms of the link between slow crack propagation (SCG) in polyethylene and fibril creep, confirming the proposal made elsewhere that SCG can be quantified in terms of creep to failure across the true stress/true strain/strain rate surface. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, J Appl Polym Sci 89: 1663–1670, 2003     

Improving the flame retardancy of polypropylene foam with piperazine pyrophosphate via multilayering coextrusion of film/foam composites

A series of 16-layer polypropylene/flame retardant (PP/FR) film/foam composite structures were produced by microlayer coextrusion. A highly branched PP was used in the foam layers to increase strain hardening and cell stability, while the PP used in the film layers was a high shear viscosity grade to confine bubble growth. In addition to improved tensile properties, the PP/FR composite film/foams exhibited five times the compression modulus of PP/FR composite foams at each FR loading level. The thermal stabilities of the composites were investigated, exhibiting three step decompositions. The FR particles were effective in decreasing flammability by forming intumescent char. The PP/FR-film/foam-20 showed self-extinguishing behavior in a modified vertical burn test, while the PP/FR-foam-20 sample continued to burn. Cone calorimetry demonstrated that PP/FR film/foams had lower heat release than PP/FR foams due to the unique alternating film/foam structure of PP/FR film/foams. Scanning electron microscopy imaging of the residual chars from fire testing that the PP/FR composite film/foams showed a more continuous protective char surface when compared with PP/FR composite foams at each FR concentration. The combined data indicate that the formation of a surface film on top of a foam ensures a robust intumescent fire protective barrier for partly foamed materials and shows a new way toward lightweight materials with improved fire safety performance. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48552.     

Delayed yielding of epoxy resin. II. Behavior under constant stress

Creep tests were carried out on epoxy resin specimens at room temperature and at different high stress levels under tension, compression, and flexure. Compared with the behavior at constant strain rate (CSR) reported in Part I of this work, creep strain–time curves revealed a distinct delayed yielding region of constant minimum rate (secondary creep) followed by a post-yielding region of increasing slope (tertiary creep). In all cases, results indicate linearity between creep stress and log secondary creep rate, which is almost coincident with the corresponding relationship between yield stress and strain rate obtained in subsequent CSR loading cycles with the same specimens. The similarity in behavior under both the creep and CSR modes conforms to Eyring's theory of non-Newtonian viscous flow at high stress levels and low temperature. Theoretical analysis yields reasonable values of the activation volume, which is unaffected by the loading and test modes or by loading history, and could thus be regarded as an intrinsic parameter of the microstructure, inherently related to the viscoplastic process involved. The above considerations indicate a deviatoric stress-biased diffusional mechanism as the predominant factor in the yielding of an amorphous glassy epoxy system.     

The recovery behavior of crosslinked closed cell polyolefin foams

In this work an experimental study on the short term creep-recovery response of a collection of crosslinked low density polyolefin foams, with closed cell structure and different chemical composition, is presented. The effect of the maximum creep strain and the relationships between the chemical composition, the morphology of the foams, and their recovery response are examined. The experimental results show that the main mechanism that controls the behavior of these materials is the viscoelastic recovery of the cell walls.     

Toward mechanistic understanding the effect of aspect ratio of carbon nanotubes upon different properties of polyurethane/carbon nanotube nanocomposite foam

This study investigated the carbon nanotube's aspect ratio's influence on the nanocomposite foams' cellular structure and mechanical, acoustic absorption characteristics. The free-rising foaming process has been used for producing different flexible polyurethane (PU) foams embedded with other multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT's). Dynamic mechanical and thermal analysis, flow resistivity, and compressive mechanical measurements were achieved on the prepared samples. The acoustic absorption coefficient in a wide range of frequencies was estimated for the prepared PU/CNT foamed nanocomposite samples. Results indicated that by increasing the aspect ratio of MWCNT, the absorption coefficient's peak shifts toward the lower frequencies and improved sound absorption characteristics of PU foam in the low-frequency region. Moreover, the Young modulus of nanocomposite samples increases by increasing the aspect ratio of MWCNT's, whereas the stored strain energy or area under the stress–strain curve increases. Based on the obtained results, it is observed that the acoustic absorption coefficient of produced nanocomposite foams at the frequency of 800 Hz has been reported to have a 70% improvement in 2 cm samples and a 40% improvement in 3 cm samples compared to obtained results from pure PU foam.     

Creep strain recovery of an in situ spinel-forming refractory castable under loading/unloading compressive creep conditions

Creep strain recovery after unloading has been well studied for metals and certain ceramic composites; however, it has not yet been investigated for ordinary ceramic refractories applied in industrial furnaces. The present study explores the question whether creep strain recovery can be observed in ordinary ceramic refractories to justify its consideration in the design of such refractories and refractory linings. To this end, the dependence of creep strain recovery on different loading conditions was investigated for a high-alumina in situ spinel-forming castable, commonly used as refractory lining of steel ladles in secondary steel metallurgy. Several loading/unloading compressive creep tests were performed at 1300 °C for different loading histories. Creep strain recovery was observed to occur and it was significantly affected by the holding time and degree of unloading. A longer holding time for the loading period was found to increase the internal stress, which is the driving force for creep strain recovery. In addition, the findings indicate that a higher excess of internal stress over external stress after unloading induces higher strain recovery.     

Study on the creep behavior of polypropylene

The creep behavior and creep failure law of polypropylene (PP) were investigated by using a multifunctional stress‐aging testing machine under different aging environmental conditions (temperature, UV, and stress). Photoinduced changes in samples were studied using gel permeation chromatography and X‐ray photoelectron spectrometer. Surface morphologies were also observed by scanning electron microscopy. It was found that there is a critical failure strain (ε_crit) for PP during the creep course. Once the creep deformation exceeds the ε_crit, creep failure of PP takes place very rapidly. The value of ε_crit is independent of the tensile stress and UV irradiation, whereas it is only affected by the temperature and the nature of the PP, such as molecular weight and molecular structure. With increasing temperature, the value of ε_crit increases gradually. In addition, the creep rate of PP increases rapidly with increasing tensile stress and temperature as well as under irradiation with UV light. This study may provide a new way to predict the service lifetime of PP. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Comparison of Tensile and Compressive Creep Behavior in Silicon Nitride

The creep behavior of a commercial grade of Si₃N₄ was studied at 1350° and 1400°C. Stresses ranged from 10 to 200 MPa in tension and from 30 to 300 MPa in compression. In tension, the creep rate increased linearly with stress at low stresses and exponentially at high stresses. By contrast, the creep rate in compression increased linearly with stress over the entire stress range. Although compressive and tensile data exhibited an Arrhenius dependence on temperature, the activation energies for creep in tension, 715.3 ± 22.9 kJ/mol, and compression, 489.2 ± 62.0 kJ/mol, were not the same. These differences in creep behavior suggests that mechanisms of creep in tension and compression are different. Creep in tension is controlled by the formation of cavities. The cavity volume fraction increased linearly with increased tensile creep strain with a slope of unity. A cavitation model of creep, developed for materials that contain a triple-junction network of second phase, rationalizes the observed creep behavior at high and low stresses. In compression, cavitation plays a less important role in the creep process. The volume fraction of cavities in compression was ∼18% of that in tension at 1.8% axial strain and approached zero at strains <1%. The linear dependence of creep rate on applied stress is consistent with a model for compressive creep involving solution–precipitation of Si₃N₄. Although the tensile and compressive creep rates overlapped at the lowest stresses, cavity volume fraction measurements showed that solution–precipitation creep of Si₃N₄ did not contribute substantially to the tensile creep rate. Instead, cavitation creep dominated at high and low stresses.     

Experimental study on multiaxial ratcheting behavior of vulcanized natural rubber

Multiaxial ratcheting characteristics of vulcanized natural rubber (NR) at room temperature were studied experimentally. The effects of axial stress, shear strain amplitude, shear strain rate, and their histories on ratcheting behavior were discussed. It is shown that the ratcheting strain depends on the axial stress and cyclic strain range. The ratcheting strain increases more rapidly as the constant axial stress or shear strain amplitude become larger. The ratcheting behaviors of the rubber exhibit nonsensitivity to the applied cyclic stress rate except initial axial strain. Furthermore, the loading histories also play an important role in progress of ratcheting. The prior cycles with higher axial stress, larger strain range or lower strain rate greatly restrains ratcheting strain of subsequent cycling with lower ones. Influence of creep on ratcheting behavior can not be neglected and its value reaches 87% of ratcheting strain. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers