ABSTRACT
A material model for cellular rubber considering the most relevant inelastic effects like viscoelastic behavior and Mullins effect is presented. A substantial advantage of the model is that the identification of the foam’s behavior relies on mechanical tests of the (pore-free) matrix material only. Therefore, the model can be adapted to different pore structures by adjusting just the model’s pore parameters. These parameters are determined by a simple algorithm that operates on the basis of CT (Computer Tomography) recordings of the foam. The proposed model is validated in uniaxial tensile tests using foam samples with three different microstructures. In order to evaluate the model’s ability to predict the foam’s compressive behavior, lateral strain measurements were also obtained during the tensile tests. The validation shows a satisfying agreement between the model prediction and the experimental results.
