Fabrication of Aluminum Foam by Space-holder Method and the Energy Absorption Properties

Abstract

Aluminum foam was fabricated by space-holder method with carbamide particles as space-holder material. The effects of forming temperature, porosity and diameter of pores were investigated systematically. During this process, the electronic universal testing machine combined with digital image correlation (DIC) technique was used to test the properties. The results show that the porosity and diameter of pores can be well controlled by space-holder method. The best sintering temperature of forming Al foam is 650 ℃. Under this sintering temperature, the compressive yield strength reaches 10.7 MPa. With the decrease of pore porosity, both of the compressive yield strength and platform stress increase, so the energy absorption of foam is improved remarkably. When the diameter of pores is below 2.0 mm, the energy absorption of foam is improved slightly with the increase of Al foam diameter. DIC technology can be used directly to characterize the mechanical behavior of foam material, which has a good engineering application prospect.

Keywords

• Al foam
• powder metallurgy
• energy absorption
• DIC technique