Hyperfoam

A hyperfoam, or elastomeric foam, describes a cellular solid whose porosity permits very large volumetric changes.

See Also
In Other Guides
Hyperelastic Behavior in Elastomeric Foams

In the hyperfoam material model the elastic behavior of the foams is based on the strain energy function:

U = i = 1 N 2 μ i α i 2 [ λ ^ 1 α i + λ ^ 2 α i + λ ^ 3 α i 3 + 1 β i ( ( J e l ) α i β i 1 ) ] ,

where N is a material parameter; μ i , α i , and β i are temperature-dependent material parameters;

λ ^ i = ( J t h ) 1 3 λ i           λ ^ 1 λ ^ 2 λ ^ 3 = J e l ;

and λ i are the principal stretches. The elastic volume ratio, J e l , relates the total volume ratio (current volume/reference volume), J , and the thermal volume ratio, J t h :

J e l  =  J J t h .

J t h is given by

J t h  =  ( 1 + ε t h ) 3 ,

where ε t h is the linear thermal expansion strain that is obtained from the temperature and the isotropic thermal expansion coefficient.

The coefficients μ i are related to the initial shear modulus, μ 0 , by:

μ 0  =  i = 1 N μ i ,

where the initial bulk modulus, Κ 0 , follows from

Κ 0  =  i = 1 N 2 μ i ( 1 3 + β i ) .

For each term in the energy function, the coefficient β i determines the degree of compressibility. β i is related to the Poisson's ratio, ν i , by the expressions

β i  =  ( ν i 1 2 ν i ) , ν i  =  ( β i 1 + 2 β i ) .

Thus, if β i is the same for all terms, we have a single effective Poisson's ratio, ν . This Poisson's ratio is valid for finite values of the logarithmic principal strains ε 1 , ε 2 , ε 3 ; in uniaxial tension ε 2 = ε 3 = ν ε 1 .

Input Data Description
Strain Energy Potential Order Numeric order, N .
Use temperature-dependent data Specifies material parameters that depend on temperature. A Temperature field appears in the data table. For more information, see Specifying Material Data as a Function of Temperature and Independent Field Variables.
mun Material parameter μ n
alphan Material parameter α n
nun Material parameter ν n
Moduli time scale Select Instantaneous or Long Term for the application of viscoelastic effects.
Poisson's Ratio 1 < ν < 0.5 .