The NEW version is bright white and has a different texture. From the 3 boxes worth I saw in the store, the boards seem to be more consistent in their flatness. I didn't really see any that were warped like the OLD board is sometimes. The NEW board feels a little more 'spongy' in your hand, I'm not sure how to measure this but it's noticeable.
SHEET WEIGHT
Original = 112g
New = 115g
TESTING
I will be using rolls of tape of various weights and large popsicle sticks at 8g each. To keep this from being too large of a post, all weights were verified off camera on a digital scale.
TEST 1 - Failure test on width cut
I cut 4 inch strips out of the width of the foam. So 4x20. The new foam feels more bendy in my hands. Due to the grain of the foam (for both sheets) a strip cut out of the width of the foam will be weaker than one cut from the length, I'm not sure by how much, but we'll see.
How does the new foam hold up compared to the old in a failure test?
No load control. Foam sits 4.6cm off the table.
144g load - NEW FOAM
144g load - OLD FOAM
NEW foam deflected 1cm and the OLD .9cm.
200g load - NEW FOAM
200g load - OLD FOAM
NEW foam deflected 1.5cm and the OLD 1.3cm.
220g load - NEW FOAM
220g load - OLD FOAM
NEW foam deflected 1.55 and the OLD 1.4cm.
270g load - NEW FOAM
270g load - OLD FOAM
NEW foam deflected 1.9cm and the OLD 1.65cm.
300g load - NEW FOAM
300g load - OLD FOAM
New foam deflected 2.05cm and the OLD 1.8cm.
460g load - NEW FOAM
460g load - OLD FOAM
The NEW board produced a bent board that deflected all the way to the table without immediate failure. By the time I was able to grab a picture it had failed completely. With the NEW foam failed I will continue to find the OLD foams failure point.
508g load - OLD FOAM
OLD foam held 500g and then failed at 508g.
TEST 2 - Failure test on length cut
I am now going to do the same test but from the length of the board, I'll start at 400g. No load control is 4.6cm as before.
400g load - NEW FOAM
400g load - OLD FOAM
Similar results but as you can see length cut is WAY stronger than width. I always keep this in mind for my builds, wings, stabs and fuse should ALWAYS run length wise.
600g load - NEW FOAM
600g load - OLD FOAM
Again, similar results. The NEW foam is holding up better with the length cut.
800g load - NEW FOAM
NEW held at 792g and then failed at 800g.
822g load - OLD FOAM
OLD held at 814g and then failed at 822g
TEST 3 - Paper removal
Grabbing the corner and peeling back produced the same results on one side of the NEW board. It looks like one side of the NEW board has better adhesion though. This was consistent with 5 other boards I bought from the same batch.
To my understanding Adams doesn't use an adhesive on these boards. The paper is rolled/pressed onto the foam while it's still hot. Because of this lack of adhesive, Adams board suffers greatly from moisture exposure. Will this be the same for the NEW board?
TEST 4 - Water
I left the foam pieces in water for 10 minutes. Then I took them out and let them dry for 30 minutes.
The paper nearly fell off both NEW and OLD foam. It looks like there is no change here in the bonding method.
Let me know what other tests you guys would like to see!