Evaluation of Static and Dynamic Cushioning Properties of Polyethylene Foam for Determining Its Cushion Curves

摘要

A comparison of static and dynamic cushioning properties of polyethylene foam is discussed in this paper. A dynamic factor function is defined and obtained from the analysis on the experimental data from compression and cushion tests. The deformation energy per unit volume is taken into consideration to make an estimate of the maximum strain and dynamic stress data in an impact, and the peak acceleration can be predicted from the compression data corrected for the dynamic effects by the dynamic factor function. Then, the cushion curves at almost every test condition, such as different drop heights or thickness of cushioning material, can be approximated by a specially developed computer code using Matlab. This research can assist in determining the accuracy of cushion curves for all variants of a particular cushioning material from the dynamic factor function and compression test data. This new procedure will greatly simplify the experimental process for determining cushion curves.