Experimental-numerical studies of the effect of cell structure on the mechanical properties of polypropylene foams

Abstract

The effects of the cell size and distribution on the mechanical properties of polypropylene foam were simulated and analyzed by finite element modeling with ANSYS and supporting experiments. The results show that the reduced cell size and narrow size distribution have beneficial influences on both the tensile and impact strengths. Decreasing the cell size or narrowing the cell size distribution was more effective for increasing the impact strength than the tensile strength in the same case. The relationship between the mechanical properties and cell structure parameters has a good correlation with the theoretical model.