Assessment of Multiaxial Mechanical Response of Rigid Polyurethane Foams

Abstract

Multiaxial deformation behavior and failure surface of rigid polyurethane foams were determined using standard experimental facilities. Two commercial foams of different densities were assayed under uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial stress states. These different stress states were reached in a uniaxial universal testing machine using suitable testing configurations which imply the use of special grips and lateral restricted samples. Actual strains were monitored with a video extensometer. Polyurethane foams exhibited typical isotropic brittle behavior, except under compressive loads where the response turned out to be ductile. A general failure surface in the stress space which accounts for density effects could be successfully generated. All of failure data, determined at the loss of linear elasticity point, collapsed in a single locus defined as the combination of a brittle crushing of closed-cell cellular materials criterion capped by an elastic buckling criterion.