Self-skinning foam

The passive protection of pedestrians from car front ends can be considerably improved, compared with present day conventional constructions, by the use of a PE foam core with a PU self-skinning foam jacket for this car component. The values achievable with such a flexible front end as well as the effects on a dummy representing a pedestrian are investigated for an impact speed of 45 km/h. 3 refs. 

J. L. Throne, Note on the Mechanical Strength of Self-skinning Foams, J. Cell. Plast., 8, 208-210 (1972). 

Integral-skin foam is referred to as self-skinning foam or self-skiimed foam. The foams have high-density skin layers and low-density cores. The overall densities vary in the range of about 200 to 1,100 kg/m (12 to 70 px f). 

The glass transition temperature lies considerably above the temperature of use with rigid foams and considerably below the temperature of use with flexible foams. The cellular structure may be open, closed, or mixed. All cells are open to each other with open cellular structures. In contrast, each cell is sealed off or encapsulated from the other cells by a plastic wall in closed-cell structures. Structural foams are foams with a dense outer skin and an interior of lower density they are also called integral foams or self-skinning foams. In contrast to normal foams syntactic foams do not directly enclose the gas but contain small hollow bodies of glass, ceramics, or plastics which are under vacuum or are filled with a gas. 

Molds for PUR Integral Skin Foams (Self-Skinning Foams)... 

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