Effect of Seed Points on the Geometric and Mechanical Properties of Voronoi Foams

Abstract

Foams are cellular materials that have unique mechanical properties. The geometric properties of these structures have been proven to be responsible for their unique mechanical properties. Accurately reproducing these geometric properties in modeling and simulation remains a challenge for researchers. This paper provides details on the geo-metric modeling techniques used to model foams and investigates the effects of the initial seed points on the geometric and mechanical properties. Unit cell repetition methods such as the Kelvin cell, and Gibson-Ashby cell as well as Voronoi-based models such as Poisson Voronoi, Hardcore Voronoi, and Laguerre Voronoi were presented. The Voronoi models were further investigated, and their effectiveness in reproducing the geometric properties of foams and predicting their elastic properties was evaluated. Both the Poisson Voronoi and Hardcore Voronoi models overestimated the elastic properties by 169% and 25%, respectively. The Laguerre Voronoi model was the most accurate in predicting the elastic properties, with an absolute error of 6.5%.