Polypropylene structural foams: Measurements of the core, skin, and overall mechanical properties with evaluation of predictive models

Abstract

Relationships for the prediction of various linear mechanical properties of polymeric sandwich foams obtained in injection processes were studied in comparison with shear, tensile, and flexural tests. The samples were obtained by a core-back foam injection molding process that enables one to obtain sandwich materials with dense skins and a foamed core as revealed by the morphological analysis. Tensile, shear, and flexural moduli were investigated for the skin, the core, and the overall foamed structure. In addition, the Poisson’s ratio of the skin was also determined. The core properties were specifically analyzed by machining the samples and removing the skins. Tensile and shear properties of the core can be well described by the Moore equation. The tensile modulus can be calculated by a linear mixing rule with the moduli of the skin and of the core in relation to the thickness of the layers. Shear and flexural moduli are described by a linear mixing rule on the rigidity in agreement with the mechanics of beams. Tensile modulus, out-of-plane shear modulus, and flexural modulus can finally be predicted by the knowledge of only very few data, namely the tensile modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the matrix, the void fraction, and thickness of the core. The equations were proved to be physically meaningful and consistent with each other.