Solid foams, both open-cell and closed-cell, are considered as a sub-class of cellular structures. They often have lower nodal connectivity as compared to other cellular structures like honeycombs and truss lattices, and thus, their failure mechanism is dominated by bending of members. Low nodal connectivity and the resulting failure mechanism ultimately lead to their lower mechanical strength and stiffness compared to honeycombs and truss lattices.
The strength of foams can be impacted by the density, the material used, and the arrangement of the cellular structure (open vs closed and pore isotropy). To characterize the mechanical properties of foams, compressive stress-strain curves are used to measure their strength and ability to absorb energy since this is an important factor in foam based technologies.