Machine Learning Modeling for Compressive Property Prediction of Foams

Foam material models for automotive structural analysis typically require tensile and compressive data at multiple strain rates. The testing is costly and may require a long time to complete. For many applications, foams of similar chemistry are used and the foam structural responses, such as stiffness and compression force deflection, are controlled by the foam density. In such cases, Machine Learning (ML) lends itself as an ideal tool to detect the trends in material response based on density and strain rate. In this paper, five microcellular polyurethane (PU) foams of different densities were tested at four strain rates ranging from 0.01/s to 100/s. A ML model capable of predicting compressive stress-strain response for a range of densities was developed. The model demonstrated good prediction capability for intermediate strain rates at all foam densities and in extrapolating stress-strain curves at higher densities at all strain rates. The strain rate trends for a density outside of the training data set were also correctly predicted by the model. This demonstrated that ML tools can successfully be used to estimate material stress-strain response thus significantly reducing the testing cost and time.