Polymeric flexible foam materials are widely used as damping materials in structural applications primarily to reduce unwanted system vibrations and related noise generation. Due to the viscoelastic nature of polymers and high compressibility of soft polymeric foams, their damping quality is strongly dependent on the overall loading situation, which occasionally means complex mechanical loading scenarios combined with specific ambient service conditions. In the case of superimposed constant compressive loading the deformation of the damping components is basically dependent on the fundamental creep tendency of certain material type and is also strongly influenced by service temperature and the surrounding contact media. Thus the chosen test methodology for proper creep characterization has to reflect these major influencing parameters.

In this regard, a specific creep testing device was built up for the performance of small load compression creep experiments on soft foam specimens immersed in liquid media, which was mineral oil in the present study. Moreover, the thermo-mechanical behavior of the foam materials was investigated by dynamic-mechanical analysis (DMA). The resulting temperature-dependent modulus and damping characteristics showed a good correlation with the corresponding creep behavior, enabling a rough estimation of the creep tendency within corresponding temperature ranges.

聚合物柔性泡沫材料被广泛用作结构应用中的阻尼材料，主要是为了减少不必要的系统振动和相关的噪音产生。由于聚合物的粘弹性和柔软的聚合物泡沫的高可压缩性，它们的阻尼质量在很大程度上取决于整体负载情况，这有时意味着复杂的机械负载情况以及特定的环境工作条件。在叠加恒定压缩载荷的情况下，阻尼组件的变形基本上取决于某些材料类型的基本蠕变趋势，并且还受到使用温度和周围接触介质的强烈影响。因此，为正确地进行蠕变表征而选择的测试方法必须反映出这些主要的影响参数。

在这方面，建立了一种特殊的蠕变测试装置，用于对浸入液体介质（在本研究中为矿物油）的软泡沫样品进行小载荷压缩蠕变实验。此外，通过动态力学分析（DMA）研究了泡沫材料的热力学行为。所得的随温度变化的模量和阻尼特性与相应的蠕变行为显示出良好的相关性，从而可以粗略估算出相应温度范围内的蠕变趋势。