AN IMPROVEMENT IN SHOCK ABSORBING BEHAVIOR OF POLYURETHANE FOAM WITH A NEGATIVE POISSON EFFECT

Abstract

Polyurethane foam was fabricated by ‘two-component method’ for changing cell structures. Compression force applied immediately to the polyurethane foam just after complete foam formation at the top of the mold for generation cell structure of negative Poisson effect. That is what we called pressure-controlled method. The polyurethane foam, produced by pressurecontrol method (CT), has significant higher resilience (52.3%) and similar level of shock absorption (47.5%) compared with control polyurethane foam (resilience is 21.5%, shock absorption is 54%). The PU foam with negative Poisson’s ratio showed excellent resilience with shock absorbance. The pressure-control method divided into two parts (CT0, CT1). The CT1 method is to apply compression force to the foam with time-delayed after foam formation. The PU foam produced by CT1 showed lower stress relaxation time, stress relaxation ratio, and maximum stress than CT0. Hence, CT1 foam is superior to other polyurethane foam as shock absorbing materials, such as shoes for diabetic patients.