Dynamic and Quasi-Static Compression Tests for Polylactic Acid Resin Foam

In this study, the effect of strain rate on the strength and the absorbed energy of polylactic acid resin foam (PLA-foam), which is generally known as one of carbon-neutral and environmentally-friendly polymers, were examined by a series of compression tests at various strain rates from 0.001 to 750 s(-1). For the measurements of the impact load and the displacement of specimen, a special load cell and a high-speed video camera were used, respectively. The flow stress of the PLA-foam strongly depends upon not only strain rate but also density of specimens. Thus, a new technique to eliminate the effect of the difference in the specimen density was proposed and successfully applied. It was also found that the strain-rate dependency of PLA-foam can be expressed by a simple power law.