Strain-rate dependency of bio-based cellular materials under a large range of temperature

Polymeric cellular materials are used in many different application domains such as transport, sport, food, health and energy. Therefore, the conditions of use of these materials represent wide temperature and strain-rate ranges. The mechanical behaviour of these foams demonstrate a strong dependency to it. In order to be able to predict such dependency, its origin has to be better understood. For this study, a bio-based cellular material, agglomerated cork, has been chosen to evaluate the temperature and strain-rate dependency of the mechanical behaviour. The visco-elastic behaviour of the material was first studied between −80°C and 100°C at frequencies between 0.01 Hz and 100 Hz. The compressive mechanical behaviour was then studied on a large range of temperature (from −30°C to 100°C) and strain rates (from 4.2 10−5 s−1 to 1250 s−1). A specific set-up was finally used to operate dynamic tests at low and high temperature. These results were used to discuss the evolution of the mechanical beahviour with these environnemental conditions based on the knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of the constitutive materials.