THEORETICAL STUDIES ON MECHANICAL MODELS OF LOW DENSITY FOAM

Open-cell foams are mainly used in the field of soundisolation and vibration absorption and as stuffing materials. Therefore,the theoretical study on their mechanical behavior, the relationbetween the mechanical properties and the density as well as the complicatedmicrostructure is very important. Inthis paper, a brief review on mechanical models of open-cell foams isgiven. The emphasis is placed on the tetrakaidecahedronmodel and the random model which can reflect the characteristics of the actual cellstructure. At the same time, the studies inthis area in our country are specially covered and some futureinvestigating trends are presented.