Evaluation of cushioning properties of plastic foams from compressive measurements

Abstract Evaluation criteria for the cushioning properties of plastic foams were developed on the basis of their stress‐strain curves. The energy‐absorption efficiency and ideality parameters have maxima when plotted against stress. The maximum in the efficiency curve represents the strain range where maximum energy is absorbed by the foam at the corresponding stress; the higher and flatter this maximum, the better the cushioning properties of the foam. The maximum in the ideality curve represents the range where the foam transmits a constant force to the packaged product. Two flexible polyurethane foams and two semirigid bonded polyurethane chipfoams were evaluated by the proposed method.