The Effect of Repetitive Compression on the Fatigue Properties of Foam for Footwear Mid-sole

To study the fatigue properties of three type of foams for footwear midsole, polyurethane(PU), phylon(PH) and injection phylon(IP) foams were prepared with different hardnesses. Three types of foams were repetitively compressed for 50,000 cycles at 50 rpm. Cell shapes of foams were deformed with repetitive compression. The extent of cell deformation of IP was larger than those of PH and PU. Permanent strain of foam was made by repetitively compressing the foam, and the extent of IP was larger than those of PU and PH. Maximum compression forces of three types of the foams were decreased with the repetitive compression, and IP had the largest decrease in compression load of foam with compression. Decreases in maximum compression force of three types of foams were increased with increase of the hardness of foam.