Abstract

In the present paper numerical design of mechanical properties of open-cell porous materials is addressed. A detailed knowledge of mechanisms and parameters determining mechanical properties (i.e. Young’s Modulus, Poisson’s Ratio) of foams is essential for applications such as energy absorbers or lightweight construction materials. The foam structures were designed using procedure based on Laguerre-Voronoi tessellations (LVT) with micro-computed tomography of commercial foams used as reference. Foam morphology was studied on post-processed computed tomography images and the parameters of LVT structures were compared with commercial materials. Subsequently finite element method (FEM) calculations were performed on both types of structures to validate the LVT design algorithm. The results show that the described design procedure can be successfully used for modeling mechanical properties of open-cell foam structures.

Highlights

  • Open porosity foams are multifunctional materials due to their unique properties combining high specific strength and stiffness [1,2] with light weight and excellent energy absorption [3,4]

  • Obtained structural parameters of commercial foam materials are in good agreement with literature data [8,17,27]

  • Both designed and commercial open-cell foam structures are characterized by randomly distributed cells, calculations were performed in 3 perpendicular directions

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Summary

Introduction

Open porosity foams are multifunctional materials due to their unique properties combining high specific strength and stiffness [1,2] with light weight and excellent energy absorption [3,4]. Extensive research performed in recent years in this area includes experimental [12,13], analytical [14] and numerical [15,16] approaches. Numerical analysis uses both simplified model structures, and calculation models derived from X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) data [17]

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