Production of metallic foam under low gravity conditions during parabolic flights

Metallic foams are a recently developed light weight material. They are porous structures consistent of metals like aluminum, tin, zinc, lead etc. or their alloys. The pore sizes are in the range of millimeters and relative densities down to 10% of the original material can be achieved. Since metallic foams combine relative low weight with high stiffness, their applications are mainly for means of light weight structures as used for example in cars. Also other applications like sandwich structures and metallic filters are of interest. To make metallic foams applicable for an industrial use, still some technical and principle problems have to be solved. These concern mostly the structure of the resulting foam, which is very inhomogeneous and not well understood. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of the physical processes that take place during the foaming process. In this paper we will introduce the powder metallurgical production method we used for producing metallic foams. Then we will describe the two main physical processes during the foam genesis and present our experimental idea and setup used to obtain information on these processes. Finally we will discuss the first results we got from parabolic flights and terrestrial experiments.     

Production of metallic foam under low gravity conditions during parabolic flights

Metallic foams are a recently developed light weight material. They are porous structures consistent of metals like aluminum, tin, zinc, lead etc. or their alloys. The pore sizes are in the range of millimeters and relative densities down to 10% of the original material can be achieved. Since metallic foams combine relative low weight with high stiffness, their applications are mainly for means of light weight structures as used for example in cars. Also other applications like sandwich structures and metallic filters are of interest.     

相对密度对泡沫铝力学性能和能量吸收性能的影响

对不同相对密度的两种胞孔结构--开孔和闭孔泡沫铝进行了单轴压缩试验,研究了相对密度对泡沫铝力学性能和能量吸收性能的影响.结果表明:随着相对密度的增大,泡沫铝的屈服强度与流动应力也相应增加,通过对本实验结果进行拟合,得出泡沫铝的屈服强度与相对密度的关系式.泡沫铝材料吸收的能量随着应变量的增大而增加,在相同应变量下,高密度开孔泡沫铝的吸收能比低密度闭孔材料多.吸能效率反映材料本身的一种属性,高的理想吸能效率表明泡沫铝是一种优良的吸能材料.     

Acoustic properties of closed-cell aluminum foams with different macrostructures

As structural materials, closed-cell aluminum foams possess obvious advantages in product dimension, strength and process economics compared with open cell aluminum foams. However, as a kind of structure-function integration materials, the application of closed-cell aluminum foams has been restricted greatly in acoustic fields due to the difficulty of sound wave penetration. It was reported that closed-cell foams with macrostructures have important effect on the propagation of sound waves. To date, the relationship between macrostructures and acoustic properties of commercially pure closedcell aluminum foams is ambiguous. In this work, different perforation and air gap types were designed for changing the macrostructures of the foam. Meanwhile, the effect of macrostructures on the sound absorption coefficient and sound reduction index were investigated. The results showed that the foams with half-hole exhibited excellent sound absorption and sound insulation behaviors in high frequency range(2500 Hz). In addition, specimens with air gaps showed good sound absorption properties in low frequency compared with the foams without air gaps. Based on the experiment results, propagation structural models of sound waves in commercially pure closed-cell aluminum foams with different macrostructures were built and the influence of macrostructures on acoustic properties was discussed.     

Ultrasonic Torsion Welding of Sheet Metals to Cellular Metallic Materials

One of the most important requirements for finding new applications for cellular metals is to integrate them in complex technical structures. The metal foams have to be joined to each other, or to sheet materials, by suitable joining techniques. The main topics of this paper are the ultrasonic torsion welding of cellular metallic materials to sheet metals and the investigation of the mechanical properties of the joints. The basic materials of foams and sheet metals were different aluminum and iron alloys. Depending on the materials used, weldings with tensile shear strengths of up to 25 MPa were realized. Using aluminum foam sandwich (AFS) and sheet metals, successful weldings were performed before and after the foaming process. Furthermore, it was possible to perform a successful foaming process with the unfoamed AFS/sheet metal joints. Microscopic investigations showed that the ultrasonic welding technique allows the joining of the metal foams with sheet metals without significant deformation of the joining partners. The temperatures during the welding process in the interface were below the melting point of the foams and the sheet metals.     

Heat Transfer and Acoustic Properties of Open Cell Aluminum Foams

The aluminum open cell foams have been prepared by the conventional precision casting method to investigate the thermal and acoustic properties.A water heating system and silencers were organized as a first step for its applications.The temperature increase between the top and bottom of the foam became larger as the cell size increased in the heat transfer measurement.Sound absorption ratio of the close cell foams was 60%-100%, whereas the open cell aluminum foam showed only 10%-20% of sound absorption at low frequency.When the prototype electric water heater manufactured by combining aluminum open cell foam with a heater was heated to 100-400℃,the highest temperature of water was in the range of 16-46~C.This suggests that there could be potential for this type of heater to be used as a commercial electric water heater.Sound silencer made with the aluminum open cell foam was applied to exit of exhaustion side at air pressure line.Sound silencing effect of open-celled aluminum foam showed that the noise level went down by introducing smaller cell size foam.     

Lightweight Cellular Plastics

Plastic foams have found a number of applications in the energy absorption, thermal, and acoustic markets. Here advances that have been made with extruded polystyrene, polyolefin, and polyurethane foams, and their uses, particularly in the automotive industry, are highlighted. The Figure shows a 65 % compressed foam.     

Compressive properties of closed-cell aluminum foams with different contents of ceramic microspheres

In this paper, closed-cell aluminum foams with different kinds and contents of ceramic microspheres are obtained using melt-foaming method. The distribution and the effects of the ceramic microspheres on the mechanical properties of aluminum foams are investigated. The results show that both kinds of ceramic microspheres distribute in the foams uniformly with part in the cell wall matrix, some in adhere to the cell wall surface and part embed in the cell wall with portion surface exposed to the pores. Ceramic microspheres have an important effect on the yield strength, mean plateau stress, densification strain and energy absorption capacities of aluminum foams. Meanwhile, the content of ceramic microsphere in aluminum foams should be controlled in order to obtain good combination of compressive strength and energy absorption capacity. The reasons are discussed.     

Study on quasi-static compressive properties of aluminum foam-epoxy resin composite structures

Closed cell aluminum foam (AF) has extensive application prospects due to its extended plateau stress region and high energy absorption capacity. As one of the most important manufacturing routes for aluminum foams, the gas injection method still does not guarantee an excellent energy absorption performance. In order to improve the energy absorption capacity while remaining the plateau region extended, epoxy resin (ER) was infiltrated into the aluminum foams in various composite forms. In this paper, different AF-ER composite structures were designed and their uniaxial quasi-static compressive behaviors were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the plateau stress and energy absorption capability of the AF-ER composite structures increase with increasing amount of epoxy resin. Additionally, both the stress fluctuation and the peak stress in the plateau region become insignificant, which is beneficial for energy absorption applications. The composite form is also confirmed to have great effect on the compressive property of the AF-ER composite structures. At last, the Young's modulus of the composite structure is theoretically deduced while the plateau stress and the energy absorption capacity are fitted with the composite parameters by considering the contribution of aluminum foam, epoxy resin and the reciprocity of these two materials. The present model is found to have good agreement with experimental data.     

Measuring elasto-plastic properties of solid wall materials of metallic foams at elevated temperatures by using indentation hardness technique

To evaluate or design metallic foams at the meso-level for applications at high temperatures, an indentation method is extended to measure the Young’s moduli, the yield strengths and the strain hardening exponents of the cell wall materials. The method was verified against a type of aluminum foam and the elasto-plastic properties of the aluminum cell walls were measured at various temperatures up to 400 °C. An approximate linear temperature dependence is observed for the hardness, the Young’s modulus and the yield strength. The present study provides a feasible way to investigate the meso-mechanical behavior of foam materials at high temperatures.     

Current Status and Recent Developments in Porous Magnesium Fabrication

A significant number of studies have been dedicated to the fabrication and properties of metallic foams. The most recent research is focused on metals with low weight and good mechanical properties, such as titanium, aluminum, and magnesium. Whereas the first two are already fairly well studied and already find application in industry, magnesium currently remains at the research stage. The present review covers the studies conducted on fabrication techniques, surface modifications, and properties of porous structures made of magnesium and its alloys.     

Computational modelling of irregular open‐cell foam behaviour under impact loading

Cellular structures represent an important class of engineering materials. Typical representative of such structures are metallic foams, which are being increasingly used in many advanced engineering applications due to their low specific weight, appropriate mechanical properties and excellent energy absorption capacity. For optimal design of cellular structures it is necessary to develop proper computational models for use in computational simulations of their behaviour under impact loading. The paper studies the effects of open‐cell metallic foam irregularity on deformation behaviour and impact energy absorption during impact loading by means of parametric computational simulations, using the lattice‐type modelling of open‐cell material structure. The 3D Voronoi technique is used for the reproduction of real, irregular open‐cell structure of metallic foams. The method uses as a reference a regular mesh structure and utilises an irregularity parameter to reproduce the irregularity of real open‐cell structure. A smoothing technique is introduced to assure proper stability and accuracy of explicit dynamic simulations using the produced lattice models. The effects of the smoothing technique were determined by comparative simulations of smoothed and unsmoothed lattices subjected to dynamic loading.     

Aluminium foams for transport industry

Foamed materials are widespread in transportation industry applications. While polymeric foams have been applied for many years foamed metals are now beginning to move into the focus of interest. A powder metallurgical method which allows the production of aluminium foams with porosity levels up to 90% is described. The foams typically have closed pores and densities ranging from 0.4 to 1 g cm⁻³, so that this foamed metals float on water. The unique mechanical properties of metal foams are described. The density dependence of metal foam properties is shown with the Young's modulus, flexural strength and compression strength as examples. A non-linear dependency of these properties on the density is found and discussed. The discussion then focuses on the energy absorption properties of aluminium foams and tools to select appropriate foams for a given energy absorption task.     

On the FE Modeling of Closed-cell Aluminum Foam

This investigation is concerned with the development of a multi-unit-cell which enables the modeling of the mechanical response of metallic foams subject to oblique loadings. The geometry of the cell was derived from careful observation of the foam morphology. The new closed unit cell is formed by the use of ellipsoids which are interconnected through a truncated pyramid. In this approach, we represent the morphology of closed-cell aluminum foams through the use of corresponding average uniform geometrical and mechanical properties. Extensive multi-unit-cell finite element analyses were conducted to examine the effect of key geometric parameters on the collapse load, normalized crush force versus deformation characteristics as well as the corresponding energy absorption. The numerical simulations were compared with crush test experiments involving different oblique loads. In spite of showing an initial stiff response, which is typical in idealized numerical models, the results revealed that the developed multi-unit-cell is able to simulate the crush behavior of closed-cell foams.     

Metal foaming by a powder metallurgy method: Production, properties and applications

 A method for fabricating metal foams based on the powder metallurgy process is presented. This foaming process allows for the production of complex-shaped foam parts, metal foam sandwich panels and foam filled hollow profiles. A range of alloys can be foamed using this method including aluminum, zinc, tin, lead and steel. The as-produced part has a closed-cell microstructure and a high fraction of porosity (typical range from 40–90% porosity). Selected mechanical properties of metal foams are evaluated, including the loading of foam samples with and without face skins and the axial crushing of tubular structures with foam reinforcement. Potential applications are discussed such as light-weight construction and energy absorption for both military and civilian uses. Received: 22 July 1998 / Accepted: 4 September 1998     

An investigation on the dynamic response of polymeric,metallic, and biomaterial foams

Mechanical characterization of foams at varying strain rates is indispensable for the selection of foam as core material for the proficient sandwich structure design at dynamic loading application. Both servo-hydraulically controlled Material Testing System (MTS) and Instron machines are generally considered for quasi-static testing at strain rates on the order of 10⁻³ s⁻¹. Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) with steel bars is typically utilized for characterizing metallic foams at high strain rates, however modified SHPB with polycarbonate or soft martial bars are used for characterizing polymeric and biomaterial foams at high strain rates on the order of 10³ s⁻¹ for impedance match between the foam specimens and bars. This paper reviews the effect of strain rate of loading, density, environmental temperature, and microstructure on compressive strength and energy absorption capacity of various closed-cell polymeric, metallic, and biomaterial foams. Compressive strength and energy absorption capacity increase with the increase in both strain rate of loading and density of foams, but decrease with the increase in surrounding temperature. Foams of same density can have different strength and can absorb unequal amount of energy at the same strain rate of loading due to the variation of microstructure.     

Design and testing of an energy absorber prototype based on aluminum foams

The current paper describes the methodology which has been used to design, fabricate and test an energy absorber system based on aluminum foams. The first step in the design process was devoted to define the requirements of the applications, important parameters such as the impact speed, impact force and the energy were defined. In a second part, a collection of aluminum foams were produced using the powder metallurgical route (PM) studying the mechanical properties of these materials. This process led us to define the characteristics of the aluminum foam to insert in the prototype, namely density and geometry. Finally, the energy absorber system was built, testing the whole system. The system worked properly, showing the excellent ability of aluminum foams in applications in which it is necessary to absorb the energy of an impact.     

Metallic foams: their production,properties and applications

Techniques for the preparation of metallic foams, including casting, powder metallurgy and metallic deposition, have been reviewed. Properties of metallic foams such as mechanical properties, energy absorbing characteristics, permeability, acoustical properties and conductivities are described. Finally, examples of the use of metallic foams in practice have been given to indicate the wide range of circumstances in which metallic foams are able to be utilized.     

金属泡沫材料研究进展

综述了金属泡沫材料的各种制备方法。液相法制备金属泡沫材料包括气体吹入法、固体发泡剂法和固体—气体共晶凝固法、熔模铸造法、渗流铸造法、喷射沉积法以及粉末加压熔化法等制备方法。采用金属粉末烧结法、浆料发泡法等制备工艺可以从固相制备金属泡沫材料。电沉积法以及气相沉积法可用于制备高孔隙率的金属泡沫材料。最后简要总结了金属泡沫材料的应用。     

Production of aluminum foam by spherical carbamide space holder technique-processing parameters

Spherical carbamide has been employed to produce aluminum foams by space holder technique via powder metallurgy route. The effect of different processing parameters such as applied pressure, dissolving time of spacer, sintering temperature and time, metallic additives, on compression properties of the resultant foams has been evaluated. Aluminum foam samples with 40–85 vol.% porosity were successfully produced. Addition of 1 wt.% Sn and Mg to aluminum powder increased strength of the sintered foams. The results indicate that the appropriate compressive properties of foams are achieved under 330 MPa compacting pressure, sintering temperature and time of 640 °C and 2 h, respectively.