Compressive deformation of expanded polylactic acid resin subjected to quasi-static and dynamic loadings at wide temperatures

Abstract

Many kinds of polymer foams are used in various situations. Especially, polymer foams are often used for shock absorber, therefore, there are many studies focusing on the effect of strain rate on the compressive properties, such as strength and absorbed energy. Since, most of them is produced from petroleum, they are not so environmentally friendly. Recent years, therefore, polylactic acid resin foam was developed that is a kind of plant-derived plastics with low environmental load. In this study, the effect of strain rate and temperature on the compressive property of polylactic acid resin foam was experimentally studied by carrying out the compression tests at various strain rates from 0.001 to 790 s^-1. It was found that the flow stress of polylactic acid resin foam during compressive deformation increases with the increase of strain rates. It was also found that the flow stress of polylactic acid resin foam decreases with the increase of temperature. In addition, polylactic acid resin foam indicates brittle behavior near liquid nitrogen temperature and impact compression caused greater effects of brittleness than quasi-static tests.