Deformation characteristics of metal foams

The deformation behaviour of a series of aluminium and zinc foams was investigated by uniaxial testing. Because the deformation behaviour of metal foams is expected to be anisotropic owing to the existence of a closed outer skin and with respect to the foaming direction, a series of measurements was carried out where the orientation of the outer skin and the foaming direction were varied. Stress–strain diagrams and corresponding compression strengths were determined for aluminium- and zinc-based foams. The influence of an age-hardening heat treatment was investigated. Finally, the axial deformation behaviour of aluminium tubes filled with aluminium foam was tested under uniaxial loading conditions. The results of the measurements are discussed in the context of possible applications of metal foams as energy absorbers. © 1998 Chapman & Hall     

On the mechanical properties of heat-treated expanded perlite–aluminium syntactic foam

In this paper, a syntactic foam is fabricated by counter-gravity infiltrating packed bed of expanded perlite particles with A356 aluminium alloy. The samples are subjected to a T6 heat treatment. The impact of heat treatment on microstructure characteristics, mechanical properties, deformation behaviour, and cell wall fracture mechanism are investigated. The compression stress–strain curves of the heat treated foams showed the three stages of elasticity, stress plateau and densification. Heat treatment resulted in a significant increase in plateau stress and absorbed energy. It is found that the effect of density on mechanical properties after heat treated conditions is more significant in comparison to untreated conditions. Under compression, the heat treated foams shows more uniform deformation. The improvement in compression characteristics by heat treatment is found to be a result of refined microstructure and higher ductility of the cell walls. Heat treatment reduces the deleterious impact of the columnar dendritic structure of the cell wall and the casting defects on mechanical properties. It limits the crack propagation by increasing the aspect ratio and interparticle distance of the Si particles in the Al matrix.     

The mechanical behaviour of aluminium foam structures in different loading conditions

The use of foam has the potential for energy absorption enhancement. Many types of materials can be produced in the form of foams, including metals and polymers. Of the metallic based foams, aluminium based are among the most advanced. Aluminium foams couple good specific mechanical properties with high thermal stability. Among the various aspects still to be investigated regarding their mechanical behaviour is the influence of a hydrostatic state of stress on yield strength. Unlike metals, the hydrostatic component affects yields. Therefore, different loading conditions have to be considered to fully identify the material behaviour. Another important issue in foam structure design is the analysis of composite structures. The mechanical behaviour of an aluminium foam has been examined. The foam was subjected to uniaxial, hydrostatic stress, pure deviatoric stress, and combinations thereof. Results obtained will be presented as quasi-static and dynamic uniaxial compression and quasi-static bending and shear loading. Moreover, composite structures were made by assembling the foam into aluminium cold extruded closed section 6060 aluminium tubes. The results show that the energy absorption capability of the composite structures is much greater than the sum of the energy absorbed by the two components, the foam and the tube.     

Hygrothermal studies on syntactic foams and compressive strength determination

Syntactic foams are commonly used as core materials in composite sandwich structures for weight sensitive applications such as aircraft and spacecraft structures and boat hulls. Moisture absorption is highly undesirable in these applications. The present study evaluates the hygrothermal properties of two types of syntactic foams. Distribution of outer diameter of cenospheres (hollow particles) incorporated in both types of syntactic foams is the same but there is variation in the internal diameter causing difference in the density of syntactic foams. Epoxy resin is used as matrix material and the volume fractions of matrix and cenospheres are kept at 0.35 and 0.65 by volume, respectively. Moisture absorption experiments are conducted at two different temperatures, 25 and 70 °C and in deionized and salt waters. Non-destructive ultrasonic imaging technique is used to find the extent of moisture penetration and damage to the specimens. Syntactic foam samples are tested for compressive strength after moisture absorption and the results are compared with the compression test results of dry syntactic foam samples.     

Novel syntactic foams made of ceramic hollow micro-spheres and starch: theory,structure and properties

Novel syntactic foams for potential building material applications were developed using starch as binder and ceramic hollow micro-spheres available as waste from coal-fire power stations. Foams of four different micro-sphere size groups were manufactured with either pre- or post-mould gelatinization process. They were of ternary system including voids with a foam density range of approximately 0.33–0.44 g/cc. Compressive failure behaviour and mechanical properties of the manufactured foams were evaluated. Not much difference in failure behaviour or in mechanical properties between the two different processes (pre- and post-mould gels) was found for a given binder content. Compressive failure of all syntactic foams was of shear on plane inclined 45° to compressive loading direction. Failure surfaces of most syntactic foams were characterized by debonded micro-spheres. Compressive strength and modulus of syntactic foams were found to be dependant mainly on binder content but mostly independent of micro-sphere size. Some conditions of relativity arising from properties of constituents leading to the rule of mixtures relationships for compressive strength and to understanding of compressive/transitional failure behaviour were developed. The developed relationships based on the rule of mixtures were partially verified. Some formation of starch webs on failure surfaces was discussed.     

Effect of strain rate and density on dynamic behaviour of syntactic foam

The final objective of this study is to improve the mechanical behaviour of composite sandwich structures under dynamic loading (impact or crash). Cellular materials are often used as core in sandwich structures and their behaviour has a significant influence on the response of the sandwich under impact. Syntactic foams are widely used in many impact-absorbing applications and can be employed as sandwich core. To optimize their mechanical performance requires the characterisation of the foam behaviour at high strain rates and identification of the underlying mechanisms.Mechanical tests were conducted on syntactic foams under quasi-static and high strain rate compression loading. The material behaviour has been determined as a function of two parameters, density and strain rate. These tests were complemented by experiments on a new device installed on a flywheel. This device was designed in order to achieve compression tests on foam at intermediate strain rates. With these test machines, the dynamic compressive behaviour has been evaluated in the strain rate range up [6.7 · 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹, 100 s⁻¹].Impact tests were conducted on syntactic foam plates with varying volume fractions of microspheres and impact conditions. A Design of Experiment tool was employed to identify the influence of the three parameters (microsphere volume fraction, projectile mass and height of fall) on the energy response. Microtomography was employed to visualize in 3D the deformation of the structure of hollow spheres to obtain a better understanding of the micromechanisms involved in energy absorption.     

空心微珠/金属基复合泡沫制备方法与吸能性能的研究进展

金属基复合泡沫是由空心微珠和金属基体复合而成的一种新型结构功能多孔复合材料。它具有许多优异的性能,如轻质、高比强度、高比刚度、高吸能能力、隔热、吸声隔音及电磁屏蔽等,高吸能能力是金属基复合泡沫的突出特点,在防撞、减振、缓冲及防爆抗振的汽车、航空航天、军事装备及船舶等领域具有广阔的应用前景。本文对金属基复合泡沫的基体材料、空心微珠填充材料、影响金属基复合泡沫压缩吸能性能的因素及压缩吸能机制进行了概述,重点报道了金属基复合泡沫常用的制备工艺及近年来铝基、镁基、锌基及钢基复合泡沫吸能性能的研究进展,分析了当前研究中存在的一些问题,并对金属基复合泡沫的应用现状作了阐述,最后展望了金属基复合泡沫的研究发展趋势。      

Effects of density and strain rate on properties of syntactic foams

Syntactic foams are characterized for high strain rate compressive properties using Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) technique in this study. The results at high strain rates are compared to quasi-static strain rate compressive properties of the same material. Four different types of syntactic foams are fabricated with the same matrix resin system but different size microballoons for testing purpose. The microballoons have the same outer radius. However, their internal radius is different leading to a difference in their density and strength. The volume fraction of the microballoons in syntactic foams is maintained at 0.65. Such an approach is helpful in isolating and identifying the contribution of matrix and microballoons to the dynamic compressive properties of syntactic foams. Results demonstrate considerable increase in peak strength of syntactic foams for higher strain rates and increasing density. It is also observed that the elastic modulus increases with increasing strain rate and density. Scanning electron microscopy is carried out to understand the fracture modes of these materials and the density effect on high strain rate properties of syntactic foam.     

Crash Behavior of Foam‐based Components: Validation of Numerical Simulations

An extensive experimental database has been established for the structural behaviour of aluminium foam and aluminium foam‐based components (foam‐filled extrusions). The database is divided into three levels: 1) foam material calibration tests, 2) foam material validation tests and finally 3) structural interaction tests where the foam interacts with aluminium extrusions. This division makes it possible to validate constitutive models applicable to aluminium foam for a wide spectrum of loading configurations. To illustrate the use of the database, four existing material models for foams in the explicit, non‐linear finite element code LS‐DYNA have been calibrated and evaluated against configurations in the database.     

Radius ratio effect on high-strain rate properties of syntactic foam composites

The high-strain rate compressive properties of syntactic foams are characterized in this study. This study is performed using a pulse-shaped Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar technique. Nine different types of syntactic foams are fabricated with the same matrix resin system but three different size microballoons and three different microballoon volume fractions. The microballoons have the same outer radius of 40 μm, but different internal radii leading to a difference in their densities. The volume fractions of the microballoons in the syntactic foams are maintained at 0.1, 0.3, and 0.6. Analysis is carried out on the effect of the microballoon radius ratio at each volume fraction on the high-strain rate properties. This approach is helpful in separating and categorizing the contribution of matrix and microballoons to the dynamic compressive properties of syntactic foams. The results at high-strain rates are compared to quasi-static strain rate compressive properties of the same material. The results show that there is little or no significant change in both compressive strength and modulus of syntactic foams at all radius ratios when tested at strain rates of 400–500/s compared to quasi-static rates. However, higher dynamic strength and stiffness values are obtained consistently at all radius ratios when tested at 800–1000/s compared to quasi-static values. It is observed that the radius ratio does not affect the syntactic foam properties significantly when tested at the same high-strain rate and volume fraction. Scanning electron microscopy is carried out to understand the fracture modes of the syntactic foams.     

Comprehensive analyses of syntactic foam behaviour in deepwater environment

Over the past 10 years, numerous studies were performed to better understand the behaviour of the glass syntactic foams used as thermal insulation of pipes for deepwater production. The obtained results outlined some specific behaviour of polymeric syntactic foams reinforced by glass microballoons in service conditions: both water uptake and mechanical stress have a key impact on thermal properties. This article focuses first on the wet behaviour of glass syntactic foams. The effect of water is investigated to better model the nature of water diffusing in syntactic foams with and without a topcoat protection. Secondly, the effect of hydrostatic pressure on coated structure is addressed by using a confined compression test. As polymer material is bonded to the steel surface, it is not submitted to pure hydrostatic loading but to non-spherical loading in the vicinity of the pipe. The confined compression test is then chosen to represent these non-spherical loadings of material. The rupture of glass microballoons is monitored by acoustic emission for different matrices and attempts are made to quantify the resulting acoustic emission signals by comparison with prior tomography results. These experimental analyses provide a better understanding of the main factors affecting the functional properties of syntactic foams.     

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.     

空心微珠填充聚氨酯泡沫塑料的力学性能

对不同密度和不同填充质量比的空心玻璃微珠填充聚氨酯泡沫塑料进行拉、压实验,研究了微珠对复合泡沫塑料力学性能的影响。实验结果表明:复合泡沫塑料拉伸曲线特征与普通泡沫塑料类似,但具有不同于普通泡沫塑料的压缩应力-应变特性;材料密度越大,微珠对胞体壁的增强效果越好;微珠团聚和界面粘结不良将可能导致材料力学性能的下降。根据有限元模拟结果和试件破坏形貌的观察探讨了材料的变形和破坏机制。      

Quasi-static compressive behaviour of aluminium cenosphere syntactic foams

In this paper, cenosphere particles embedded in AA2014 aluminium matrix are used to fabricate syntactic foam by stir casting method. The particle size is about 100?µm and foam density is about 1990?kg?m^?3. Compression tests at strain rate 0.001/s are performed on foam samples to characterise their mechanical properties which are then used in numerical analysis on commercial finite element analysis software ABAQUS/CAE with isotropic elastic-plastic material model. Experimental and numerical results show good conformity in deformation behaviour with elastic and plateau zones showing average deviations less than 5% and 20%, respectively. Foams showed high yield stress and energy absorption capabilities that can be useful in making blast and impact resistant structures.     

Comparison of tensile and compressive characteristics of vinyl ester/glass microballoon syntactic foams

The present study is focused on the synthesis and characterization of vinyl ester/glass microballoon syntactic foams. Tensile and compressive properties of vinyl ester matrix syntactic foams are characterized. Results show that the compressive strength and moduli of several syntactic foam compositions are comparable to those of the neat matrix resin. Due to the lower density of syntactic foams, the specific compressive properties of all compositions are higher than those of the neat resin. Similar trends are observed in the tensile properties. Mechanical properties of vinyl ester matrix syntactic foams are compared to well-documented mechanical properties of epoxy matrix systems. The comparison shows that low cost vinyl ester resins, which are extensively used in marine applications, can result in syntactic foams with comparable performance to epoxy matrix systems. In addition, tensile modulus is found to be 15–30% higher than the compressive modulus for all syntactic foam compositions. This difference is related to the possibility of particle fracture in the stress range where modulus is calculated in the compressive stress–strain curves.     

Volume fraction effect on high strain rate properties of syntactic foam composites

The volume fraction effect on the high strain rate compressive properties of syntactic foams is characterized using a pulse-shaped Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) technique. Eighteen different types of syntactic foams are fabricated with the same matrix resin system but six different microballoon volume fractions and three different size microballoons. The volume fractions of the microballoons in the syntactic foams are maintained at 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6. The microballoons have the same mean outer radius of 40 μm, but different internal radii leading to a difference in their density. Analysis is carried out on the effect of microballoon volume fractions on the high strain rate properties for each type of syntactic foam. This approach is helpful in understanding the effect of microballoon reinforcement at different volume fractions on the dynamic compressive properties of syntactic foams. The results at high strain rates are compared to quasi-static strain rate compressive properties of the same material. The results show that there is a decrease in both compressive strength and modulus as the microballoon volume fraction increases for the same type of syntactic foam at all strain rates. However, at strain rates of quasi-static and 450/s, the decrease tends to be gradual across all volume fractions, while for strain rates of 800/s, there is a dramatic decrease from 10 to 20% followed by a gradual decline for most specimens. The fracture mode plays a major role in the dynamic behavior of syntactic foams.     

Adaptation of density distributions for optimising aluminium foam structures

Abstract

Metallic foams show some potential for being produced with controlled spatial variations in their density. This suggests employing them as graded materials in space filling lightweight structures designed in analogy to cortical bone, a natural cellular material, that displays increased density in regions of high loading. In the present study the influence of the mechanical properties of aluminium foams on the results of an optimisation of the foam density distribution with regard to structural strength and stiffness was examined. Regression formulae for the relationships between stiffness and strength of metallic foams on one hand and effective density on the other hand can be fitted to the results of uniaxial compression tests of a certain brand of metallic foam. These results and additional assumptions such as overall isotropy and a yield surface suitable for cellular materials can be implemented into a finite element program adapted for performing stiffness or strength optimisation on the basis of a density adaptation similar to the remodelling of bone. Some applications are presented that show how foams with gradients in the apparent density may be employed to obtain optimal structural behaviour for classical design problems.     

固体浮力材料用复合泡沫的研究进展EI北大核心CSCD

浮力材料作为深海装置中一种重要的配重材料,能够对水下作业的设备起到浮力补偿的作用。固体浮力材料因密度低、强度高、吸水率低等特性近年来在深海测量、石油勘测、深海开发等领域受到广泛关注。本文首先简述了固体浮力材料及其应用背景,围绕其分类主要阐述了化学泡沫材料和复合泡沫材料的特点,并基于未来发展方向和应用前景,重点介绍了复合泡沫材料。以复合泡沫类型的固体浮力材料为核心,根据其基本组成,分别介绍了金属基、陶瓷基、树脂基及其他类型复合泡沫材料,综述了其组成、表界面微结构、外界加载速率等影响因素对物理性能、力学性能的影响规律,借助扫描断层显微技术和有限元方法分析破坏模式,揭示材料在不同加载速率下的力学行为和失效机理。本文在提高复合泡沫材料整体力学性能及先进实验表征方法方面提出展望:可通过修饰填料和树脂基体官能团的方法或加入第二增强相,提高材料整体力学性能;借助μ-CT和扫描电子显微镜,表征材料微观结构,揭示破坏机理。     

Mechanical behavior of pure Al and Al–Mg syntactic foam composites containing glass cenospheres

Glass cenospheres were used as space holders for making aluminum matrix syntactic foams by pressure infiltration technique. The mechanical properties and failure behavior of cenospheres/Al syntactic foams with pure Al and Al–Mg alloys were investigated in the present work. The failure behavior of cenospheres in two syntactic foams was similar. However, the mechanical behavior of these two syntactic foams was different. Under compression process, the cenospheres/pure Al showed discontinuous shear band and drum shape, while cenospheres/Al–Mg exhibited continuous shear band and was divided by main shear zone. At the tensile state, the cenospheres in pure Al matrix syntactic foam debonded from the matrix, while the cenospheres in Al–Mg matrix syntactic foam was well-bonded and appeared to lamellar tearing. It is suggested that the difference of mechanical deformation behavior could be attributed to the matrix ductility and the forming of interfacial reaction product MgAl₂O₄ coatings.     

中等应变率下泡沫铝的吸能特性

进行了不同密度、高度和压缩方向下泡沫铝的准静态压缩试验和中等应变率下(＜100 s-1)的冲击试验,研究了具有不同密度的闭孔泡沫铝在准静态压缩和冲击工况下的吸能特性.结果表明,泡沫铝是一种近似的各向同性结构,具有较高的单位质量吸能特性,是一种较好的吸能材料.在准静态和中等应变率冲击条件下,泡沫铝对应变率不敏感,其应力应变关系与应变率关系不大.不同的泡沫铝,其平台应力与密度之间的关系不同,在研究其性能时,必须测量应力-应变关系.泡沫铝的致密区对其吸能特性有很大的影响.