THE EFFECT OF DENSITY PROFILE ON THE FLEXURAL MODULUS OF POLYMER FOAMS

摘要

It is known that bulk or average density is the major parameter controlling the mechanical properties of polymer foams. Nevertheless, density profile has also a major impact especially for structural foams where an unfoamed skin is enclosing a foamed core. In this study, the effect of density profile on the flexural modulus of a structural foam is discussed in terms of skin thickness and taking into account the local variation of density (related to void fraction) with position.