Question about industry standars

[phoenix]

Hi Mike77,

Ive had a hard time looking for mattresses over the past 2 months because of how hard it is to find a dealer who will release any spec information about the brands they sell.

If you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know about the better options or possibilities in your area where the odds that you will be able to find out the information you need to make an informed choice would be higher.

Today i had a long talk and was given a speil by a “sales rep” for sealy mattresses about how foam densities dont determine the durability of a mattress, but only the feel. He explained how they, at one time, put two foams (from competing vendors) under a microscope, and verified the same densities, but the two performed differently. At the time i felt as if that was more or less not the point because the standard, from my understanding, is that density does matter and the higher the density, generally the higher the durability, and hence, from a customers POV, the higher the quality. But, being the “noob” in the room, i wasn’t totally sure of this after hearing the sales rep.

The information you are getting is misleading and is actually the other way around. In very basic terms there are two different types of specifications that apply to polyfoam and memory foam materials. One type is what I call “comfort” specs such as firmness, resilience, and others that contribute to how a mattress “feels”. Density has little to do with this because lower density and less durable foam materials can be formulated to have a very similar “feel” and firmness to higher density foam materials of the same type … they just won’t maintain their properties and firmness for as long as higher density materials.

On the other hand … there are also what I call “quality/durability” specs which determine the durability and useful life of the foam material and the single biggest factor in the durability of a foam material that will determine how long it maintains it’s original properties is the density of the foam material although this is not directly related to the actual firmness, feel, and properties that are formulated into the foam.

Latex is a little bit different from polyfoam and memory foam because the density of latex is directly related to firmness but in general terms any type or blend of latex is a very durable material relative to other types of foam.

While there is no way to quantify how long any mattress will last for a specific person or predict exactly when you will decide to replace it because it is no longer suitable or comfortable for you (because this is the only real measure of durability or the useful life of a mattress that really matters) because there are too many unknowns and variables involved that are unique to each person … if a mattress is well inside a suitable comfort/support range and isn’t close to the edge of being too soft when it is new (see post #2 here) and you have confirmed that it meets the minimum quality/durability specs that are suggested in the guidelines here then it would be reasonable to expect a useful lifetime in the range of 7 - 10 years and with higher quality and more durable materials like latex or higher density memory foam or polyfoam (in the comfort layers especially) it would likely be in the higher end of the range or even longer and the chances that you would have additional “bonus time” would be higher as well.

There is also more detailed information about the variables that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress (and the materials inside it) in post #4 here as well.

[quote]AFter arriving home, and in doing research, i found this website.

www.pfa.org/jifsg/jifsgs1.html Published in 1994!! OLD paper

Polyurethane foam association…sounds pretty “standardish”. Having had experience w/ standards it seems logical the industry must have them.

Is this still a good authority on the current understanding of foam density? Or any other foam spec for that matter. Seeing as this paper is fairly outdated, is there a better more authoritative source of information on the current understanding of “foam density”. Polyurethane in my case. I do realize different foams and materials will have different properties and that the “density” may apply diffferently in those cases.

From the conclusion of these papers it does seem, although only statistically probable, that higher densities means higher performance in terms of durability. Any information or correction on this would be greatly appreciated. [/quote]

I would consider the PFA to be a reliable and informative site about polyurethane foam (polyfoam) and memory foam and if If you are interested in learning more technical information about polyfoam then a good place to start would be the Polyurethane Foam Association or the American Chemistry Council site here and in particular the links in post #5 here which discuss the relationship between density and durability. There are more links with even more detailed information yet about polyurethane foam in post #2 here (hopefully all of the links are still active).

Any knowledgeable manufacturer in the industry or knowledgeable foam suppliers will confirm the relationship between polyurethane and memory foam density and durability.

Phoenix