An Evaluation of Temperature Reduction Methods on Dow Ethafoam 2 Cushioning Material. Volume I.

In conducting extreme temperature experimentation on bulk cushioning materials, it is necessary to provide a means of heating the material to the desired upper temeprature extreme or to cool the material to the desired lower temperature extreme. Since resistance heating techniques are available for achieving the upper temperature extreme, the procedure is very straightforward. However, this is not the case with the lower temperature extreme. Two available methods to achieve the low temperature extreme are 1 the introduction of carbon dioxide CO2 gas into a chamber containing the items to be temperature conditioned, and 2 the use of mechanical refrigeration methods such as those available in the common household refrigerator. This report is concerned with evaluating the above two methods of achieving low temperature extremes in bulk cushioning testing. In particular, the Ethafoam 2 cushioning material was utilized as a basis for evaluating the two methods. An experimental design was developed to guide the acquisition of test data for the specified conditions.