The Industry Panel has developed a new foam durability test that provides measures that relate to both the long-term reliability and short-term comfort of the polyurethane seating material. The long-term performance is based on the height and load loss of the foam after 22,000 compression cycles. The short-term comfort performance is based on the change in the foam stiffness and the indenter position, or creep over the length of the test.

Other benefits include a shorter test duration, which allows a lab to complete the test in one 8 hour shift opposed to most tests that run over night. The test can also be automated to run on one piece of equipment that takes the pre and posttest measurements and runs the fatigue cycling. This enables the lab to run a second test overnight.

This method is currently in draft form, and we are working within ASTM to have it published as a standard procedure.

The Industry Panel Proposes an Improved Foam Durability Test