WARNING: All polyurethane foams including “FR” types will burn. Do not expose to any flame source.
Once ignited, they can produce rapid flame spread, intense heat, dense smoke and toxic gases causing death. Warnings should be given to your employees and customers. Test data does not necessarily reflect a foam’s performance under actual fire conditions.

Properties that Affect Foam Performance
There are a number of physical properties of flexible polyurethane foam that can be used when selecting foam cushioning for different applications. Following is a brief description of the physical properties of foam, and the importance of each. Physical properties of foam are measured under closely controlled conditions of humidity and temperature. Care must be taken to reproduce those conditions when testing samples of foam for physical properties.

Density
Measured and expressed in pounds per cubic foot (pcf), density is one of the most important of all foam properties. Density is a function of the chemistry used to produce the foam and additives included with the foam chemistry.

Density affects foam durability and support. Typically, the higher the density, the better the foam will retain its original properties and provide the support and comfort it was originally designed to produce.

IFD (Compression)
Indentation Force Deflection (IFD) is a measurement of foam firmness. Firmness is independent of foam density, although it is often thought that higher density foams are firmer. It is possible to have high density foams that are soft-or low density foams that are firm, depending on the IFD specification. IFD specification relates to comfort. It is a measurement of the surface feel of the foam.

IFD is measured by indenting (compressing) a foam sample 25 percent of its original height. The amount of force (in pounds) required to indent the foam is its 25 percent IFD measurement.The more force required, the firmer the foam. Flexible foam IFD measurements range from about 10 pounds (supersoft) to about 80 pounds (very firm).

Resilience
Resilience is an indicator of the surface elasticity or “springiness” of foam. Resilience can relate to comfort. Resilience is typically measured by dropping a steel ball onto the foam cushion and measuring how high the ball rebounds. Higher resilience in a foam often means that sofa seat cushions, for example, have a better “hand” or surface feel.