Archive for February, 2012
February 6th, 2012 | 
Author: Memory foam was first developed in 1966, and was first known as œslow spring back foam. Originally created to improve the safety of aircraft cushions, the material has reached more commercially domestic markets and is commonly used in bed mattresses and as a memory foam topper.
The foam was initially developed by NASA’s Ames Research Centre, and was predominantly due to the work of scientists Chiharu Kubokawa, of Ames, and Charles Yost, from the Stencel Aero Engineering Corporation. Yost then created Dynamic Systems Inc. to commercialise the product, and the foam went on to be used for medical and sports equipment.
When later opened up into the public domain, it was developed into the Tempur-Pedic brand for mattresses, which later became the Tempur World company. Initially expensive and difficult to manufacture, the foam retained much of its uses within the medical profession, however, when costs came down, the domestic market opened and it is now commonly used for bedding products.
The foam is essentially a polyurethane, but other chemicals can be added to increase its viscosity and density and can be referred to as a œvisco-elastic foam. Generally, the foam is subdivided into two categories, low density and high density. The difference lies in the mattresses reactive qualities to allow for it to have the memory characteristics that is attributed to the material.
Higher density foam takes its shape by moulding due to a reaction to body heat, over the course of a few minutes. Lower density foam relates to the material’s reaction to pressure. Sensitive to pressure, the foam moulds quickly around a body and returns to its original shape once this pressure is removed.
When used for bedding materials, particularly mattresses, the material is much denser than conventional mattress foam and this is generally correlated with quality and therefore price. Such mattresses are clinically recognised to be beneficial to health related problems, and therefore the mattresses are a popular choice across the world, not only for comfort levels, but for alleviating health issues.
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