Development and investigation of the applicability of microstructural models for polymeric low density foams directly obtained from computed tomography data

Nowadays, there are several methods to obtain simulation models for foams which consider important microstructural features. This research study presents a method to obtain low density foam models directly from computed tomography (CT) data. Finite element meshes are created from CT measurement results of a polypropylene extrusion foam with two different densities. Sensitivity studies with regard to the tension behaviour are performed with the microstructural models. The study shows that the tension behaviour highly depends on the examined area of the foam because the microstructure and density vary through the foam. Furthermore, the simulation results are validated with experimental results. The validation shows that the tension behaviour of the investigated foams characterised by the simulation approach is in good agreement with the experimentally observed behaviour and that specific microstructural characteristics (e.g. anisotropic cell shapes) are captured in the model.