Fatigue analysis of closed-cell aluminium foam using different material models

The fatigue analyses of AlSi7 closed-cell aluminium foam were performed using a real porous model and three different homogenised material models:crushable foam model,isotropic hardening model and kinematic hardening model.The numerical analysis using all three homogenised material models is based on the available experimental results previously determined from fatigue tests under oscillating tensile loading with the stress ratio R=0.1.The obtained computational results have shown that both isotropic and kinematic hardening models are suitable to analyse the fatigue behaviour of closed-cell aluminium foam.Besides,the kinematic hardening material model has demonstrated significantly shorter simulation time if compared to the isotropic hardening material model.On the other hand,the crushable foam model is recognized as an inappropriate approach for the fatigue analyses under tension loading conditions.

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.

Compressive and energy absorption properties of closed-cell magnesium foams

The quasi-static compressive mechanical behavior and deformation mechanism of closed-cell magnesium foams were studied, and the ef- fects of the density of magnesium foams on the compressive and energy absorption properties were also discussed. The results show that the compressive process of closed-cell magnesium foams is characterized by three deformation stages： linear elastic stage, collapsing stage and densification stage. At the linear elastic stage, the peak compressive strength （t70） and Young＇s modulus （E0） increase as the density increases Magnesium foams can absorb energy at the collapsing stage. In a certain strain range, the energy absorption capacity also increases as the density of magnesium foams increases.

Tensile property of Al-Si closed-cell aluminum foam

Al-Si closed-cell aluminum foams of different densities were prepared by molten body transitional foaming process.The tensile behavior of Al-Si closed-cell aluminum foam was studied and the influence of relative densities on the tensile strength and elastic modulus was also researched.The results show that the fracture surfaces of Al-Si closed-cell aluminum foam display quasi-cleavage fracture consisting of brittle cleavages and ductile dimples.The tensile strength and elastic modulus are strictly affected by the relative density of Al-Si closed-cell aluminum foam.With increasing relative density,the tensile strength increases and the strain at which the peak strength is measured also increases;in addition,the elastic modulus increases with increasing relative density.

Biaxial mechanical behavior of closed-cell aluminum foam under combined shear-compression loading

Combined shear-compression tests and simulations were performed on a closed-cell aluminum foam over a wide range of loading angles in order to probe their yield behaviors under biaxial loading conditions.Combined shear-compression tests were carried out by using a pair of cylindrical bars with beveled ends.The yield surfaces were experimentally measured and compared with various theoretical yield surface models.The cellular structures of closed-cell aluminum foams were modeled as tetrakaidecahedrons and their biaxial crushing behaviors were simulated by the finite element method.The results show that,yield initiates from the stress-concentrated corners in the specimens under combined shear-compression loading and the stress distribution is no longer uniform at the specimen/bar interfaces.In the range of cell sizes studied,the larger the foam cell size is,the higher the yield stress is.Aluminum foam density is found to be the dominant factor on its mechanical properties compared with the cell size and is much more significant in engineering practice.

Microstructural examination and mechanical properties of replicated aluminium composite foams

Open-cell aluminium foams can be produced with the structural replication of dimensional accuracy from polymeric foam patterns through a pressure infiltration casting process.The strength of open-cell foam is much less than that of the closed-cell counterpart,and thereby subjects to mainly functional applications.An improvement in mechanical properties of the foams can be implemented with the addition of ceramic particles.In the present study,the composite foams were produced using AC3A alloy added with varying contents of SiC particles.The resultant foams have ceramic particles embedded in the alloy matrix and on the strut surface.Higher volume fraction of ceramic particles resulted in an increase in the compressive strength,energy absorption and microhardness of the foams.The improvement of these properties is due to the modification of the microstructure of the foams and the increased strength in the node and struts at which the ceramic particles reside.

Shape formation of closed-cell aluminum foam in solid–liquid–gas coexisting state

The mold pressing process was applied to investigate the formability of closed-cell aluminum foam in solid–liquid–gas coexisting state.Results show that the shape formation of closed-cell aluminum foam in the solid–liquid–gas coexisting state was realized through cell wall deformation and cell movement caused by primary α-Al grains that slid,rotated,deformed,and ripened within cell walls.During formation,characteristic parameters of closed-cell aluminum foam were almost unchanged.Under proper forming conditions,shaped products of closed-cell aluminum foam could be fabricated through mold pressing.

Influence of aluminium nitride as a foaming agent on the preparation of foam glass-ceramics from high-titanium blast furnace slag

To effectively reuse high-titanium blast furnace slag （TS）, foam glass-ceramics were successfully prepared by powder sintering at 1000℃. TS and waste glass were used as the main raw materials, aluminium nitride （AIN） as the foaming agent, and borax as the fluxing agent. The influence of the amount of A1N added （lwt%-5wt%） on the crystalline phases, microstructure, and properties of the produced foam glass-ceramics was studied. The results showed that the main crystal phases were perovskite, diopside, and augite. With increasing A1N content, a transformation from diopside to augite occurred and the crystallinity of the pyroxene phases slightly decreased. Initially, the aver- age pore size and porosity of the foam glass-ceramics increased and subsequently decreased; similarly, their bulk density and compressive strength decreased and subsequently increased. The optimal properties were obtained when the foam glass-ceramics were prepared by adding 4wt% AIN.

THE PRODUCTION OF FOAM ALUMINIUM ALLOY BY LOW-PRESSURE INFILTRATION METHOD

The influence of technical parameters on the infiltrating height of the moltenmetal in the process of Producing aluminium alloy foam by low-pressure infiltration method were investigated.Experiments indicated that the height increases with the preheating temperature of granules,theexternal pressureand the pouring temperature of molten alloy,among which the action of pre heating temperature of granules is more effective.There exists a critical pre heating temperature for different size of granules.

氟蛋白泡沫灭火剂中核心组分对铝合金的腐蚀影响研究

为了探究氟蛋白泡沫(Fluoroprotein Foam,FP)灭火剂中核心组分对铝合金腐蚀行为的影响,利用浸泡失重、动电位极化(Potentiodynamic Polarization,PDP)和电化学阻抗谱(Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy,EIS)等方法开展了试验研究。结果表明,FP组分中水解蛋白、稳定剂、助溶剂和抗冻剂起到促进铝合金腐蚀的作用,而两种表面活性剂产生缓蚀作用,其中,作为稳定剂的FeSO_(4)腐蚀作用最强,氟碳表面活性剂的缓蚀效果最明显,通过PDP和EIS得到7%FeSO_(4)的腐蚀率分别为29.19%和32.14%,7%氟碳表面活性剂的缓蚀率分别为25.22%和18.21%。此外,铝合金的Nyquist图均呈现出扁平半圆弧特征,通过拟合后得到的电化学参数进一步证实了浸泡失重试验的结论,FP各组分的腐蚀性由强到弱依次为FeSO_(4)、醋酸钴、水解蛋白、乙二醇、尿素、SDS、OBS。

Mitigation of Blast Effects on Aluminum Foam Protected Masonry Walls

Terrorist attacks using improvised explosive devices （IED） can result in unreinforced masonry （URM） wall collapse. Protecting URM wall from IED attack is very complicated. An effective solution to mitigate blast effects on URM wall is to retrofit URM wails with metallic foam sheets to absorb blast energy. However, mitigation of blast effects on metallic foam protected URM walls is currently in their infancy in the world. In this paper, numerical models are used to simulate the per- formance of aluminum foam protected URM walls subjected to blast loads. A distinctive model, in which mortar and brick units of masonry are discritized individually, is used to model the perform- ance of masonry and the contact between the masonry and steel face-sheet of aluminum foam is modelled using the interface element model. The aluminum foam is modelled by a nonlinear elas- toplastic material model. The material models for masonry, aluminum foam and interface are then coded into a finite element program LS-DYNA3D to perform the numerical calculations of response and damage of aluminum foam protected URM walls under airblast loads. Discussion is made on the effectiveness of the aluminum foam protected system for URM wall against blast loads.

Acoustic properties of closed-cell aluminum foams with different macrostructures

As structural materials, closed-cell aluminum foams possess obvious advantages in product dimension, strength and process economics compared with open cell aluminum foams. However, as a kind of structure-function integration materials, the application of closed-cell aluminum foams has been restricted greatly in acoustic fields due to the difficulty of sound wave penetration. It was reported that closed-cell foams with macrostructures have important effect on the propagation of sound waves. To date, the relationship between macrostructures and acoustic properties of commercially pure closedcell aluminum foams is ambiguous. In this work, different perforation and air gap types were designed for changing the macrostructures of the foam. Meanwhile, the effect of macrostructures on the sound absorption coefficient and sound reduction index were investigated. The results showed that the foams with half-hole exhibited excellent sound absorption and sound insulation behaviors in high frequency range（〉2500 Hz）. In addition, specimens with air gaps showed good sound absorption properties in low frequency compared with the foams without air gaps. Based on the experiment results, propagation structural models of sound waves in commercially pure closed-cell aluminum foams with different macrostructures were built and the influence of macrostructures on acoustic properties was discussed.

Vibration analysis of foam plates based on cell volume distribution

In this paper, vibration analysis of irregular-closed-cell foam plates is per- formed. A cell volume distribution coefficient is introduced to modify the original Gibson- Ashby equations of effective Young＇s modulus of foam materials. A Burr distribution is imported to describe the cell volume distribution situation. Three Burr distribution pa- rameters are obtained and related to the cell volume range and the diversity. Based on the plate theory and the effective modulus theory, the natural frequency of foam plates is calculated with the change of the cell volume distribution parameters. The relationship between the frequencies and the cell volumes are derived. The scale factor of the average cell size is introduced and proved to be an important factor to the performance of the foam plate. The result is shown by the existing theory of size effects. It is determined that the cell volume distribution has an impact on the natural frequency of the plate structure based on the cell volume range, the diversity, and the average size, and the impact can lead to optimization of the synthesis procedure.

Study of the Reconstruction of Fractal Structure of Closed-cell Aluminum Foam and its Thermal Conductivity

Based on the characteristics of the internal structure of closed-cell aluminum foam, this paper attempts to illus- trate the process of reconstructing the internal structures of closed-cell aluminum foam in Monte-Carlo method and the fractal characteristics of the reconstructed model. Furthermore, Binary Array Method is proposed by analyzing the reconstructed model and the thermal conductivity model of closed-cell aluminum foam is established. At the same time, the thermal conductivity of the foam materials with different porosity is calculated by Binary Array Method, and the calculated value coincides with the experimental results in the reference, which proves the correctness of these methods.

A NOVEL THEORY OF EFFECTIVE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CLOSED-CELL FOAM MATERIALS

In this paper a new theory of effective mechanical properties of foam materials is proposed. A cell volume distribution coefficient is introduced to modify the original Gibson-Ashby equations of effective mechanical properties of foam materials. The constants that influence the effective modulus are replaced by the coeff^cient. Based on the modified distribution coefficient, the yield stress is also recalculated. Using X-ray microtomography, the internal structures of dif- ferent samples of polypropylene-nanoclay foam are obtained. The cell volume distributions of these samples are derived from the experiment by image analysis and the fitting curves are plot- ted. The distribution coefficient is acquired using the parameters from the theoretical model of the distribution curves. The results of the improved theory are compared with the experimental values and show good fitting quality. It was found that the precision of the improved theory is high and the cell volume distribution has an impact on the effective mechanical properties that would lead to the optimization of the synthesis procedure.

泡沫材料的最新研究进展

综述了泡沫铝、泡沫钛、泡沫硅和泡沫铅等材料的制备方法,以及如何控制材料的组成和孔隙率来制备不同性能的材料,重点介绍了这些泡沫材料在汽车工业、人体植入材料、光学材料、微电子、计算机和铅酸电池等方面表现出来的优异性能,并展望其广阔的市场前景。

CaCO_3发泡剂制备泡沫铝工艺研究

用CaCO3作发泡剂 ,用熔体发泡法制备泡沫铝 ,即Al Si12在熔融状态下 ,加入活性剂Mg粉 ,再与SiC颗粒混合均匀 ,然后加入发泡剂(CaCO3)搅拌 ,进行保温发泡 ,最后冷却。结果表明 ,对于Al Si12的合金 ,用CaCO3作为发泡剂 ,制备出孔隙结构均匀 ,平均孔隙率最大、结构均匀的泡沫铝的最优条件是 :CaCO3含量 1.2 %～ 1.8%,加热温度 680～ 70 0℃之间 ,保温时间 4～ 8min之间。

粉末冶金法制备泡沫铝材料

研究了粉末冶金法制备泡沫铝材料的方法·讨论了发泡过程中的保护方式、制坯压力、发泡温度等参数对泡沫铝体积质量、孔隙率、孔结构的影响,并对发泡机理进行了探讨·增大制坯压力使得金属坯致密,可以得到孔结构均匀的泡沫铝材料;发泡温度是影响发泡的主要因素之一,发泡温度控制在高于铝或铝合金熔点,同时保持熔体具有一定粘度的范围内,能够得到孔结构均匀、高孔隙率的泡沫铝材料·实验结果表明:采用熔盐保护方式,在300MPa的压力下,温度在675～680℃时,可得到孔径均匀、孔隙率高的泡沫铝材料·

泡沫铝填充帽型结构轴向冲击吸能特性的试验研究

利用冲击试验系统,通过试验方法研究了泡沫铝填充帽型结构在轴向冲击工况下的吸能特性。首先进行了泡沫铝、空心帽型结构以及泡沫铝填充帽型结构的轴向冲击试验;然后根据试验结果,对泡沫铝填充帽型结构轴向冲击工况下的吸能特性进行了分析,评估了填充泡沫铝以及应变率对帽型结构吸能特性的影响。试验结果表明, 与空心结构相比,填充泡沫铝之后帽型结构的轴向压缩稳定性和吸能特性有明显的改善;由于材料对应变率敏感, 与准静态压缩相比,结构的吸能特性有一定的提高。

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,其应力一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．