Characterization of Mechanical Properties of a Shock Absorber Polyurethane Foam for Elevators. Numerical Fitting of Mechanical Behavior Models for Hyperelastic and Elastomeric Foam Materials

The elastic cellular polyurethane elastomer is widely used to manufacture shock absorbers for elevators, due to its excellent conditions for absorption of energy and vibration damping. In this paper, a complete mechanical characterization of this material was performed including the uniaxial compressive test, the planar test, and the volumetric and the simple shear test. From the experimental results, several models of behavior for hyperelastic and elastomeric foam materials have been analyzed by fitting their corresponding material parameters. The scope of this work includes the Ogden model, the Van der Waals model, and polynomial and elastomeric foam forms.