Mechanical characterization of reinforced rigid polyurethane foams

Rigid polyurethane foams are very widely used in a variety of structural and non-structural applications. For example, it may be used as an insulator, in sandwich layered composite panels, and as filler for damping in hollow structural members. Reinforced polyurethane rigid foams are used in the automotive industry for body parts such as wings, spoilers, boot lids and doors. Other areas of application include stadium seating and furniture, construction panels, electronic encapsulants, radomes and structural supports.; In this investigation, reinforced rigid polyurethane foams have been developed and characterized for their microstructure, quasi-static mechanical properties and also their deformation response to impact loading. The polyurethane foam will be reinforced with very short, 400 micron length, milled E-glass fibers and nano-clay particles. Hybrid foams were also fabricated which consisted of both nano-clay and milled E-glass fibers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...