Shear thickening gel reinforced flexible polyurethane foam and its enhanced properties

Cushioning energy absorbing materials are developing towards lightweight and high specific strength. Therefore, how to ensure the lightweight and high strength of materials is an important issue of common concern to researchers. In this paper, a stretchable shear thickening gel/polyurethane foam composite material, with excellent shear hardening and energy absorption characteristics, was prepared by one-step foaming method. The strain rate sensitivity of the composite was 1.5–1.9 times than that of the pure polyurethane foam. Importantly, the addition of shear thickening gel increased the specific strength and specific energy absorption of the composite material by 82% and 96% respectively compared with pure polyurethane foam. (paper)