Preparation and characterization of aluminum foams with ZrH_2 as foaming agent

Aluminum foams were fabricated by melt-based route using ZrH2 as a foaming agent. The factors which affected the foaming of aluminum foams during casting process were investigated. The powdered zirconium hydride with content of 0.6%-1.4% （mass fraction） was added to the molten pure aluminum and the foaming condition was controlled in a temperature range from 933 to 1 013 K, Ca amount of 1.5%-3.0% （mass fraction）, stirring time of 0.5-2.5 min and holding time of 1.5-4.0 min to obtain homogeneous aluminum foams. The fabricated aluminum foams were characterized by XRD, SEM and Image-pro plus. The mechanical properties of the aluminum foams with different relative density were tested. The result indicates that the foaming agent （ZrH2） is suitable for the preparation of small aperture aluminum foams with average pore diameter of 1 mm. Inter-metallic compounds and Al2O3 have effect on the melt viscosity. The aluminum foams experience linear elastic, platforms and densification process and had a higher efficiency of energy absorption.

Effects of cell wall property on compressive performance of aluminum foams

The effects of cell wall property on the compressive performance of high porosity, closed-cell aluminum foams prepared by gas injection method were investigated. The research was conducted both experimentally and numerically. Foam specimens prepared from conditioned melt were tested under uniaxial compressive loading condition. The cell wall microstructure and fracture were observed through optical microscope（OM） and scanning electron microscope（SEM）, which indicates that the cell wall property is impaired by the defects in cell walls and oxide films on the cell wall surface. Subsequently, finite element（FE） models based on three-dimensional thin shell Kelvin tetrakaidecahedron were developed based on the mechanical properties of the raw material and solid material that are determined by using experimental measurements. The simulation results show that the plateau stress of the nominal stress-strain curve exhibits a linear relationship with the yield strength of the cell wall material. The simulation plateau stress is higher than the experimental data, partly owing to the substitution of solid material for cell wall material in the process of the establishment of FE models.

Oxide film on bubble surface of aluminum foams produced by gas injection foaming process

Based on A356 aluminum alloy,aluminum foams were prepared by gas injection foaming process with pure nitrogen,air and some gas mixtures.The oxygen volume fraction of these gas mixtures varied from 0.2%to 8.0%.Optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and Auger electron spectroscopy（AES） were used to analyze the influence of oxygen content on cell structure,relative density,macro and micro morphology of cell walls,coverage area fraction of oxide film,thickness of oxide film and other aspects.Results indicate that the coverage area fraction of oxide film on bubble surface increases with the increase of oxygen content when the oxygen volume is less than 1.2%.While when the oxygen volume fraction is larger than 1.6%,an oxide film covers the entire bubble surface and aluminum foams with good cell structure can be produced.The thicknesses of oxide films of aluminum foams produced by gas mixtures containing 1.6%-21%oxygen are almost the same.The reasons why the thickness of oxide film nearly does not change with the variation of oxygen content and the amount of oxygen needed to achieve 100%coverage of oxide film are both discussed.In addition,the role of oxide film on bubble surface in foam stability is also analyzed.

Preparation of open-celled aluminum foams by counter-gravity infiltration casting

A novel counter-gravity infiltration casting device and corresponding fabricating process for producing open-celled aluminum foams were presented. The experimental results show that defects such as insufficient or excessive infiltrating can hardly be found in the foam samples prepared by counter-gravity infiltration casting. The foam materials exhibit excellent mechanical properties. The void content strongly affects the mechanical properties of aluminum foams. The yield stress and plateau stress significantly increase with the decrease of void content. Raising pre-heating temperature and increasing packing pressure are effective to lower the void content in aluminum foams.

THE STRUCTURE CONTROL OF ALUMINUM FOAMS PRODUCED BY POWDER COMPACTED FOAMING PROCESS

A new technique, powder compact foaming process for the production of aluminumfoams has been studied in this article. According to this method, the aluminum pow-der is mixed with a powder foaming agent (TiH_2). Subsequent to mixing, the powderblend is hot compacted to obtain a dense semi--finished product. Upon heating to tem-peratures within the range of the melting point, the foaming agent decomposes to evolvegas and the semi--finished product expands into a porous cellular aluminum. Foamingprocess is the key in this method. Based on experiments, the foaming characteris-tics were mainly analyzed and discussed. Experiments show that the aluminum--foamwith closed pores and a uniform cell structure of high porosity can be obtained usingthis method by adjusting the foaming parameters: the content of foaming agent andfoaming temperature.

Oxidation kinetics of oxide film on bubble surface of aluminum foams produced by gas injection foaming process

In the range of 620？710 °C, air was blown into A356 aluminum alloy melt to produce aluminum foams. In order to study the influence of temperature on the thickness of oxide film on bubble surface, Auger electron spectroscopy （AES） was used. Based on the knowledge of corrosion science and hydrodynamics, two oxidation kinetics models of oxide film on bubble surface were established. The thicknesses of oxide films produced at different temperatures were predicted through those two models. Furthermore, the theoretical values were compared with the experimental values. The results indicate that in the range of 620？710 °C, the theoretical values of the thickness of oxide film predicted by the model including the rising process are higher than the experimental values. While, the theoretical values predicted by the model without the rising process are in good agreement with the experimental values, which shows this model objectively describes the oxidation process of oxide film on bubble surface. This work suggests that the oxidation kinetics of oxide film on bubble surface of aluminum foams produced by gas injection foaming process follows the Arrhenius equation.

Thermal properties of open-celled aluminum foams prepared by two infiltration casting methods

Contrastive research was carried out to study the thermal properties of open-celled aluminum foams prepared by counter-gravity infiltration casting system and the traditional process respectively.The experimental results show that the thermal conductivity coefficients of aluminum foams prepared by two different infiltration methods have similar increasing trend with the increase of particle size;along with the reducing porosity,the thermal conductivity coefficients will be enhanced oppositely.However,with the same particle size,the open-celled aluminum foam prepared by the former method has a higher thermal conductivity coefficient obviously.It is largely because that the sample prepared by counter-gravity infiltration casting has a lower void content and better dense crystallization of metal-matrix after the constant pressure process.

STOCHASTIC ELASTO-PLASTIC FRACTURE ANALYSIS OF ALUMINUM FOAMS

Model I quasi-static nonlinear fracture of aluminum foams is analyzed by considering the effect of microscopic heterogeneity. Firstly, a continuum constitutive model is adopted to account for the plastic compressibility of the metallic foams. The yield strain modeled by a two- parameter Weibull-type function is adopted in the constitutive model. Then, a modified cohesive zone model is established to characterize the fracture behavior of aluminum foams with a cohesive zone ahead of the initial crack. The tensile traction versus local crack opening displacement relation is employed to describe the softening characteristics of the material. And a Weibull statistical model for peak bridging stress within the fracture process zone is used for considering microscopic heterogeneity of aluminum foams. Lastly, the influence of stochastic parameters on the curve of stress-strain is given. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the numerical model presented in this paper and the effects of Weibull parameters and material properties on J-integral are discussed.

Compressive characteristics of closed-cell aluminum foams with different percentages of Er element

In the present study, closed-cell aluminum foams with different percentages of erbium （Er） element were successfully prepared. The distribution and existence form of erbium （Er） element and its effect on the compressive properties of the foams were investigated. Results show that Er uniformly distributes in the cell walls in the forms of Al3Er intermetallic compound and AI-Er solid solutions. Compared with commercially pure aluminum foam, Er-containing foams possess higher micro-hardness, compressive strength and energy absorption capacity due to solid solution strengthening and second phase strengthening effects. Additionally, the amount of Er element should be controlled in the range of 0.10wt.%-0.50wt.% in order to obtain a good combination of compressive strength and energy absorption properties.

Effects of foaming parameters on microstructure and compressive properties of aluminum foams produced by powder metallurgy method

Semi open-cell aluminum foams having channels between individual cells were produced using low cost CaCO3foamingagent and applying the powder compact melting process.To this end,the aluminum and CaCO3powder mixtures were coldcompacted into dense cylindrical precursors for foaming at specific temperatures under air atmosphere.The effects of severalparameters including precursor compaction pressure,foaming agent content as well as temperature and time of the foaming processon the cell microstructure,linear expansion,relative density and compressive properties were investigated.A uniform distribution ofcells with sizes less than100μm,which form semi open-cell structures with relative densities in the range of55.4%-84.4%,wasobtained.The elevation of compaction pressure between127-318MPa and blowing agent up to15%(mass fraction)led to anincrease in the linear expansion,compressive strength and densification strain.By varying the foaming temperature from800to1000°C,all of the investigated parameters increased except compressive strength and relative density.The results indicated theoptimal foaming temperature and time as900°C and10-25min,respectively.

Novel foaming agent used in preparation process of aluminum foams

The performances of a novel foaming agent used in the preparation process of aluminum foams were investigated, and the effects of some factors, such as addition of the foaming agent, foaming temperature on the porosity, and appearance of aluminum foams were also discussed. Experimental results show that the novel foaming agent has a wide decomposition temperature range and a mild decomposed rate; the foaming agent has the ability to enhance the viscosity of aluminum melt, as a result, an extra viscosifier such as Ca or SiCp is unnecessary while using this foaming agent; the bubble-free zone in material decreases and the foaming effi- ciency increases with the increase of foaming agent; the bubble-free zone disappears and the foaming efficiency is near 100% when the addition of foaming agent is more than 1.4wt%; the porosity of the aluminum foam increases with the increase of foaming agent when the addition of foaming agent is less than 2.2wt%.

Thermal properties of closed-cell aluminum foams prepared by melt foaming technology

Closed-cell aluminum foam has incomparable advantages over other traditional materials for thermal insulation and heatpreservation because of small thermal conductivity coefficient. Spherical bubble three-dimensional model of aluminum foam is builtto deduce the relationship among pore wall thickness, porosity and average pore size. Non-uniform closed-cell foam aluminummodel with different structural parameters and random pore distribution is established based on the relationship via C programminglanguage. And the temperature distribution is analyzed with ANSYS software. Results indicate that thermal conductivity increaseswith the reducing of porosity. For the aluminum foam with the same porosity, different pore distributions result in different thermalconductivities. The temperature distribution in aluminum foam is non-uniform, which is closely related with the pore size anddistribution. The pores which extend or distribute along the direction perpendicular to heat flow strengthen obstructive capability forheat flow. When pores connect along the direction perpendicular to heat flow, a “wall of high thermal resistance” appears to declinethe thermal conductivity rapidly, which shows that only porosity cannot completely determine effective thermal conductivity ofclosed-cell aluminum foam.

Sound absorption property of open-pore aluminum foams

This paper presents a study on sound absorption property of aluminum foam by evaluating its sound absorption coefficients using standing wave tube method. Experimental results showed that the average values of sound absorption coefficients (over the test frequency range) are all above 0.4, which indicate very good sound absorption property of the aluminum foams. The sound absorption coefficient is affected by frequency and pore structure, and reaches its maximum value at around 1 000 Hz. With the increase of porosity and decrease of cell diameter, the sound absorption coefficient values increase.

Compressive properties of aluminum foams by gas injection method

The compressive properties of aluminum foams by gas injection method are investigated under both quasi-static and dynamic compressive loads in this paper. The experimental results indicate that the deformation of the aluminum foams goes through three stages: elastic deforming, plastic deforming and densification stage, during both the quasi-static and dynamic compressions. The aluminum foams with small average cell size or low porosity have high yield strength. An increase in strain rate can lead to an increase of yield strength. The yield strength of the aluminum foams under the dynamic loading condition is much greater than that under the quasi-static loading condition. Dynamic compressive tests show that a higher strain rate can give rise to a higher energy absorption capacity, which demonstrates that the aluminum foams have remarkable strain rate sensitivity on the loading rate.

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.

Fabrication and compressive behavior of open-cell aluminum foams via infiltration casting using spherical CaCl_(2) space-holders

The infiltration casting fabrication process based on spherical CaCl_(2) space-holders and the compressive behavior including the mechanical performance and energy absorption capacity of open-cell aluminum foams were investigated.Open-cell aluminum foams with different porosities in the range of 63.1%to 87.3%can be fabricated by adjusting compression ratios of CaCl_(2) preforms prepared by precision hot-pressing.The compression tests show that a strain-hardening phenomenon always occurs especially for open-cell aluminum foam with low porosity,resulting in the inclining stress-strain curve in the plateau region.The energy absorption capacity of open-cell aluminum foam decreases with increasing porosity when compared at the same strain.However,when compared at a given stress,each foam can absorb the maximal energy among the five foams in a special stress range.Additionally,open-cell aluminum foam possesses the maximum energy absorption efficiency at its optimum operating stress.At this stress condition,the foam can absorb the highest energy compared with other foams at the same stress point.The optimum operating stress and the corresponding maximal energy absorption decrease with increasing the porosity.The optimum operating stress for energy absorption can also be determined similarly when taking into consideration of the lightweight extent of foams.

A novel 3D geometrical reconstruction method for aluminum foams and FEM modeling of the material response

A novel method for modeling cellular materials is proposed based on MATLAB image processing and synchrotron X-ray computed tomography scan- ning to obtain an accurate calculation result of aluminum foam based on finite element model. The maximum entropy algorithm is employed to obtain the bina- rization image, and the median filtering algorithm is used to reduce the noise after binarization. The external contour and internal pores boundary is extracted by the ＂edge＂ function in MATLAB, and the geometrical model is reconstructed. A two-step mesh algorithm is adopted to mesh the reconstructed geometrical model. Accordingly, the finite element model of aluminum foam is established by the proposed method based on reconstruction geometrical model. The compression behavior of aluminum foam is obtained at 25℃, 100℃, 200℃ by ABAQUS, and good agreements with experiments are achieved by applying the present recon- struction algorithm and modeling method.

Proposal of Equivalent Porosity Indicator for Foam Aluminum Based on GRNN

To gain a more comprehensive understanding and evaluate foam aluminum's performance,researchers have introduced various characterization indicators.However,the current understanding of the significance of these indicators in analyzing foam aluminum's performance is limited.This study employs the Generalized Regression Neural Network(GRNN)method to establish a model that links foam aluminum's microstructure characterization data with its mechanical properties.Through the GRNN model,researchers extracted four of the most crucial features and their corresponding weight values from the 13 pore characteristics of foam aluminum.Subsequently,a new characterization formula,called“Wang equivalent porosity”(WEP),was developed by using residual weights assigned to the feature weights,and four parameter coefficients were obtained.This formula aims to represent the relationship between foam aluminum's microstructural features and its mechanical performance.Furthermore,the researchers conducted model verification using compression data from 11 sets of foam aluminum.The validation results showed that among these 11 foam aluminum datasets,the Gibson-Ashby formula yielded anomalous results in two cases,whereas WEP exhibited exceptional stability without any anomalies.In comparison to the Gibson-Ashby formula,WEP demonstrated an 18.18%improvement in evaluation accuracy.

Effect of orifice geometry on bubble formation in melt gas injection to prepare aluminum foams

The bubble formation process at submerged orifices with different geometry is investigated in the preparation of aluminum foams by gas injection method.The bubble profile on a horizontal plate is calculated by quasi-static analysis through Laplace equation.The bubble formation process is then distinguished into three stages:nucleation stage,growth stage and detachment stage in wetting and less wetting conditions based on the force balance analysis.In addition,the bubble size at high Reynolds number is obtained by considering the contribution of buoyancy,pressure force,inertial force,drag force and surface tension based on the three stages of bubble formation.The bubble size is confirmed to be sensitive to the equivalent contact angle,which consists of two terms including the contact angle and the wedge angle.Therefore,the wedge angle is introduced in the design of gas outlet orifices for the purpose of decreasing bubble size generated.The experimental study is conducted at three different types of stainless steel orifices under constant gas flow rates(0.05–2 L/min).It is clarified that the orifice geometry and the orifice size are both responsible for the cell size of aluminum foams.The experimental results for three different types of orifices show a consistent trend with the theoretical predictions at various gas flow rates.In the design of orifices to generate small bubbles in the melt,the wedge angle that coordinates with the contact angle is thus suggested.

Fabrication,properties,and applications of open-cell aluminum foams:A review

Open-cell metallic foams or porous metals have a distinctive combination of excellent structural performance and superior functional characteristics,such as their light weight,energy absorption,sound absorption,heat dissipation,and electromagnetic shielding.As a primary representative of metallic foams,aluminum foam has developed into a new engineering material with many unique applications in the fields of aerospace,automotive industry,petrochemical industry,building materials,and etc.This paper summarizes the fabrication methods,properties,and applications of open-cell aluminum foams.The current status and development trends are also introduced.