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synopsisThe mechanical behavior of three kinds of organic foams, each a t two different densities, was experimentally investigated under conditions of pulsed one-dimensional strain shock loading. The input pulse width in each experiment was nominally 0.1 psec, and the input stress level (as referenced to quartz) was varied between 10 and 23 kbar. The materials studied were polyurethane foam at bulk densities of 0.33 and 0.21 g/cc, syntactic foam (phenolic microballoons dispersed in a resin binder) a t 0.66 and 0.23 g/cc, and polystyrene bead foam at 0.091 and 0.049 g/cc. Specimen thicknesses varied between 1.0 and 625 mm. It was found that the pulse duration was greatly lengthened and that the peak stress was decreased (accounting for both impedance mismatch and attenuation effects) by factors of between about 8 and 500, depending upon the type of foam, its thickness, and its density.