Reconstituted Versus Virgin Open Cell Foams in Floating Floors

Sound reducing flooring systems using flexible polymer foams as a decoupling resilient layer are increasingly being used in both new build and refurbishment. Such foams have been investigated and results suggest that reconstituted polyether foam from waste products may offer some advantages over the low density open cell l.d.o.c.) foams currently used in some systems. It has been shown that reconstituted open cell (o.c.) foams have an almost linear compressive stress-strain relationship up to about 40% strain without the marked yield point observed with virgin o.c. foams. Stress strain characteristics for reconstituted o.c. and virgin l.d.o.c. foams compared in this study indicate that, for stresses below the yield point for the virgin foam, greater strain is observed in reconstituted foam. When tested according to BSEN 29052-1, systems comprising reconstituted foam exhibited lower natural frequencies than those with the lower density virgin foam.