Experimental and analytical study on the compressive behavior of PMI foam with different densities and cell sizes under intermediate strain rates

Polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam materials have great potential for applications in the field of protective energy absorption owing to their superior compressive properties. Existing studies on the mechanical behavior of PMI foams are limited, particularly for loading at intermediate strain rates. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental study of PMI foam with four different densities under quasi-static and intermediate strain rate compression (0.001 s⁻¹ to 100 s⁻¹). Each density included three different cell sizes to determine their effects on the compressive performance. Loads parallel and perpendicular to the foam rise direction were considered to investigate the anisotropic behavior. Intermediate strain rate tests were conducted using a high-speed hydraulic servo testing machine, which achieved a stable strain rate while ensuring consistent specimen sizes in both quasi-static and dynamic tests. In all the experiments, the compression process was captured using a high-speed camera and the macroscopic deformation mode and microscopic deformation mechanism were analyzed by combining Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The PMI foam with finer cell sizes exhibited an enhanced compression performance. As the strain rate increased, the strain rate effect became more evident in the high-density specimens and an increase in cell size diminished this effect. A modified analytical model incorporating the cell-size correction term was developed based on Gibson and Ashby's model. The modified model exhibited an average error of 4.9 % in the predicted plateau stress of PMI foam with different cell sizes at the same density.