Structural Property Correlation with Process Parameters in the Manufacture of Closed-Cell Aluminum Foam
Keywords:
mechanical properties., foam structure, aluminum foam,Abstract
The aluminum alloy foam with varying structural properties was prepared with melt foaming method using titanium hydride as blowing agent. The influence of process parameters were investigated in correlation with the structural properties of foamed aluminum. It is observed that the amount of titanium hydride and the duration of holding time for foaming have significant influence on the final cell structure over other process parameters. The microstructural analysis reveals the presence of intermetallics inside the cell wall and alumina on the pore surface contributing for the stability during foaming process. The mechanical properties and energy absorption capacity were calculated and analyzed, showing direct dependence with relative density of the foam.
Downloads
References
Gibson, L.J. and Ashby, M.F., 1997, Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties – 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, U.K.
Schwingel, D., Seeliger, H.W., Vecchionaces, C., Alwes, D. and Dittrich, J., 2007, “ Aluminium foam sandwich structures for space application”, Acta Astronautica, Vol.61, pp. 326-330.
Demsetz, L.A and Gibson, L.J., 1987, “Minimum weight design for stiffness in sandwich plates with rigid foam cores”, Mat Sci and Eng A, Vol.85, pp. 33-42.
Contorno, D., Filice, L., Fratini, L. and Micari, F., 2006, “Forming of aluminum foam sandwich panels: Numercial simulations and experimental tests”, J of Mat Proc Technol., Vol.177, pp. 364-367.
Nasser, N., S., Kang, W.J., McGee, J.D., Guo, W.G. and Isaacs, J.B., 2007, “Experimental investigation of energy-absorption characteristics of components of sandwich structures”, Int J of Impact Eng., Vol.34, pp. 1119-1146.
Ramachandra, S., Kumar, S.P. and Ramamurthy, U., 2003, “Impact energy absorption in an Al foam at low velocities” Scripta Mater., Vol.49, pp. 741-745.
Sriram, R., Vaidya, U.K. and Kim, J.E., 2006, “Blast impact response of aluminum foam sandwich composites”, J Mater Sci., Vol.41, pp. 4023-4039.
Miyoshi, T., Itoh, M., Mukai, T., kanahashi, H., Kohzu, H., Tanabe, S. and Higashi, K., 1999, “Enhancement of energy absorption in a closed-cell aluminum by the modification of cellular structures”, Scripta Mater., Vol.41, pp. 1055-1060.
Greene, S.A., Hall, I.W. and Guden, M., 2002, “Improving the energy absorption of closed cell aluminum foams”, J of Mate Sci Letters, Vol.21, pp. 1591-1593.
Hayden, N. G. W., 2002, “Cellular metals manufacturing”, Adv Eng Mater., Vol.4, pp. 726-733.
Babcsan, N., Leitlmeier, D., and Banhart, J., 2005, “Metal foams – high temperature colloids part I – Ex-situ analysis of metal foams”, Colloid Surface Physicochem Eng. Aspect, Vol.261, pp. 123-130.
Astrid Haibel, Alexander Rack, Banhart, J., 2006, “Why are metal foams stable”, Appl Phys Lett., Vol.89, 154102 ,pp. 1-3.
Asavavisithchai, S. and Kennedy, A.R., 2006, “The effect of Mg addition on the stability of Al-Al2O3 foams made by a powder metallurgy route”. Scripta Materialia, Vol.54, pp. 1331-1334.
Banhart, J., 2006, “Metal Foams: Production and Stability”, Adv Eng Mater., Vol.8, pp. 781-794.
Wubben, T.H. and Odenbach, S., 2005, “Stabilisation of liquid metallic foams by solid particles”, Colloids and Surfaces A : Physicochem Eng Aspects, Vol.266, pp. 207-213.
Ma, L-Q. and Song, Z-L., 1998, “Cellular structure control of aluminium foams during foaming process of aluminium melt”, Scripta Materialia, Vol. 39, PP. 1523–1528.
Song, Z-L., Ma, L-Q., Wu, Z-J. and He, D-P., 2000, “Effects of viscosity on cellular structure of foamed aluminum in foaming process”, J Mat Sci., Vol 35, pp. 15-20.
Yang, C.C. and Nakae, H, 2003, “The effects of viscosity and cooling conditions on the foamability of aluminum alloy”. J Mater Proc Techn., Vol.141, pp. 202–206.
R. Edwin Raj and B.S.S. Daniel, 2007, “Aluminum melt foam processing for light-weight structures”, Mat and Manuf Processes, Vol.22, pp. 525-530.
R. Edwin Raj and B.S.S. Daniel, 2007, “Manufacturing challenges in obtaining tailor-made closed-cell structures in metallic foams”, Int J Adv Manuf Technol., DOI 10.1007/s00170-007-1254-y (2007) (available online)
Yang, N.N., and Nakae, H., 2000, “Foaming characteristics control during production of aluminum alloy foam”, J of Alloys and Compounds, Vol.313, pp. 188-191.
Yang, D.H., Hur, B.Y., He, D.P. and Yang, S.R., 2007, “Effect of decomposition of titanium hydride on the foaming process and pore structure of Al alloy melt foam”, Mat Sci and Eng A, Vol.445-446, pp. 415-426.
Babcsán, N., Leitlmeier, D., Degischer, H.P. and Banhart, J., 2004, “The role of oxidation in blowing particle-stabilised aluminium foams” Adv Engg Mater., Vol.6, pp. 421-428.
Leitlmeier, D., Degischer, H.P. and Flankl, H.J., 2002, “Development of a foaming process for Particulate Reinforced Aluminum Melts”, Adv Engg Mater., Vol. 4, pp. 735-740.
Papadopoulos, D.P., Konstantinidis, I.Ch., Papanastasiou, N., Skolianos, S., Lefakis, H. and Tsipas, D.N., (2004), “Mechanical properties of Al metal foams”, Materials Letters, Vol.58, pp. 2574– 2578.
Konstantinidis, I.Ch., Papadopoulos, D.P., Lefakis, H. and Tsipas, D.N., (2005), “Model for determining mechanical properties of aluminum closed-cell foams”, Theoretical and Appl Fracture Mechanics, Vol.43, pp. 157–167.
Evans, A.G., Hutchinson, J.W. and Ashby, M.F., (1999), “Multifuntionality of cellular metal systems”, Prog in Mater Sci., Vol.43, pp. 171-221.
