Fatigue of isotropic open-cell foams under multiaxial loads

A model for describing the fatigue of isotropic open-cell foams under multiaxial loads is presented. The Paris law for microcrack propagation, the Basquin law for high-cycle fatigue and the Coffin-Manson law for low-cycle fatigue are employed in calculating the number of cycles to failure for solid cell struts. The multiaxial fatigue of foams is thus obtained using dimensional argument analysis. Results suggest that the multiaxial fatigue of foams depends on cyclic stress ranges, relative density and the fatigue parameters of solid cell struts. Furthermore, theoretical expressions for the multiaxial fatigue of open-cell foams can be expressed in a simple form. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.