ABSTRACT
Polymeric foams constitute an excellent class of materials to satisfy the rigorous requirements for developing shock-tolerant and shock-resistant structures in every industrial sector, ranging from biomedical to space. The process-structure-property-performance nexus is at the center of these scientific and technological endeavors, defining the fundamental interrelationships for designing and developing innovative impact mitigation solutions based on the forecasted impact energy and strain rate. Since the severity of the impact hinges on the loading energy and rate, the spectrum of shock loading investigations is categorized into serval regimes, delineated and discussed in this chapter. A great emphasis is afforded to the mechanistic interrelationships based on the foam microstructure, its influence on the impact-related properties, and the resulting performance in different impact scenarios based on incoming energy and rate. At the outset, concluding remarks and future perspectives are included and discussed.
