ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTION METHOD AND STABILIZING AGENT ON STRUCTURE OF ALUMINUM METAL FOAMS

Abstract

Aluminum alloy foams are a form of porous metal whose structure resembles the shape of natural materials such as coral, bone, sponge, etc. Due to their structure, these materials retain good mechanical properties of the base material while being significantly lighter than non-porous metal. Metal foams can be used as energy and vibration absorbers, heat exchangers, insulators, and filters. The main disadvantage of this type of material is its high production cost. To reduce production costs, aluminum alloy chips are used as base material. Foams are made of A360 and AA 7075 aluminum alloys. To produce a porous structure, CaCO3 is used as a foaming agent while Zn and CaO were added as stabilizing agents. The main goal of the paper was to investigate the difference in the shape of pores and relative density after foaming with different stabilizing agents.

Keywords

• metal foam
• chip waste
• recycling
• relative density
• stabilizer