Development in applications of porous metals

Applications of porous metal materials are reviewed so far. These applications deal with filtration and separation, energy absorption, electrode matrix, fluid distribution and control, heat exchangers, reaction materials, constructional materials, electromagnetic shielding, biomaterials and so on. All these are expected to promote the improvement of the property and structure for porous metals.

Simultaneous fabrication of porous metals and metallic nanowires via atmospheric pressure plasma-assisted electro-dealloying

Porous metals and metallic nanowires have gained significant attention for their potential applications in catalysis, sensing, and energy storage. Developing a versatile and efficient method for fabricating these functional materials is crucial but remains challenging. Herein, we report a novel and facile electro-dealloying strategy to simultaneously fabricate porous metals and metallic nanowires using atmospheric radio-frequency(RF) capacitively coupled plasmas. The synergistic effect of the heating and plasma sheath’s electric field lead to the nonequilibrium melting of the alloy, resulting continuous ejection of the melted segments to form nanowires and let the unmelted residual parts evolve into a porous structure. This method is applicable to alloys with large melting point differences of their constituent elements, and provides a promising approach to fabricate porous metals and metallic nanowires for a wide range of functional applications.

Porous metal oxides in the role of electrochemical CO_(2) reduction reaction

The global energy-related CO_(2) emissions have rapidly increased as the world economy heavily relied on fossil fuels.This paper explores the pressing challenge of CO_(2) emissions and highlights the role of porous metal oxide materials in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO_(2)(CO_(2)RR).The focus is on the development of robust and selective catalysts,particularly metal and metal-oxide-based materials.Porous metal oxides offer high surface area,enhancing the accessibility to active sites and improving reaction kinetics.The tunability of these materials allows for tailored catalytic behavior,targeting optimized reaction mechanisms for CO_(2)RR.The work also discusses the various synthesis strategies and identifies key structural and compositional features,addressing challenges like high overpotential,poor selectivity,and low stability.Based on these insights,we suggest avenues for future research on porous metal oxide materials for electrochemical CO_(2) reduction.

Capillary Property of Entangled Porous Metallic Wire materials and Its Application in Fluid Buffers:Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Study

Strong impact does serious harm to the military industries so it is necessary to choose reasonable cushioning material and design effective buffers to prevent the impact of equipment.Based on the capillary property entangled porous metallic wire materials(EPMWM),this paper designed a composite buffer which uses EPMWM and viscous fluid as cushioning materials under the low-speed impact of the recoil force device of weapon equipment(such as artillery,mortar,etc.).Combined with the capillary model,porosity,hydraulic diameter,maximum pore diameter and pore distribution were used to characterize the pore structure characteristics of EPMWM.The calculation model of the damping force of the composite buffer was established.The low-speed impact test of the composite buffer was conducted.The parameters of the buffer under low-speed impact were identified according to the model,and the nonlinear model of damping force was obtained.The test results show that the composite buffer with EPMWM and viscous fluid can absorb the impact energy from the recoil movement effectively,and provide a new method for the buffer design of weapon equipment(such as artillery,mortar,etc.).

Porous metal implants: processing,properties, and challenges

Porous and functionally graded materials have seen extensive applications in modern biomedical devices—allowing for improved site-specific performance;their appreciable mechanical,corrosive,and biocompatible properties are highly sought after for lightweight and high-strength load-bearing orthopedic and dental implants.Examples of such porous materials are metals,ceramics,and polymers.Although,easy to manufacture and lightweight,porous polymers do not inherently exhibit the required mechanical strength for hard tissue repair or replacement.Alternatively,porous ceramics are brittle and do not possess the required fatigue resistance.On the other hand,porous biocompatible metals have shown tailorable strength,fatigue resistance,and toughness.Thereby,a significant interest in investigating the manufacturing challenges of porous metals has taken place in recent years.Past research has shown that once the advantages of porous metallic structures in the orthopedic implant industry have been realized,their biological and biomechanical compatibility—with the host bone—has been followed up with extensive methodical research.Various manufacturing methods for porous or functionally graded metals are discussed and compared in this review,specifically,how the manufacturing process influences microstructure,graded composition,porosity,biocompatibility,and mechanical properties.Most of the studies discussed in this review are related to porous structures for bone implant applications;however,the understanding of these investigations may also be extended to other devices beyond the biomedical field.

Design of multi-layered porous fibrous metals for optimal sound absorption in the low frequency range

We present a design method for calculating and optimizing sound absorption coefficient of multi-layered porous fibrous metals （PFM） in the low frequency range. PFM is simplified as an equivalent idealized sheet with all metallic fibers aligned in one direction and distributed in periodic hexagonal patterns. We use a phenomenological model in the literature to investigate the effects of pore geometrical parameters （fiber diameter and gap） on sound absorption performance. The sound absorption coefficient of multi- layered PFMs is calculated using impedance translation theorem, To demonstrate the validity of the present model, we compare the predicted results with the experimental data. With the average sound absorption （low frequency range） as the objective function and the fiber gaps as the design variables, an optimization method for multi-layered fibrous metals is proposed. A new fibrous layout with given porosity of multi-layered fibrous metals is suggested to achieve optimal low frequency sound absorption. The sound absorption coefficient of the optimal multi-layered fibrous metal is higher than the single- layered fibrous metal, and a significant effect of the fibrous material on sound absorption is found due to the surface Dorosity of the multi-layered fibrous.

Quasi-static and low-velocity impact mechanical behaviors of entangled porous metallic wire material under different temperatures

To improve the defense capability of military equipment under extreme conditions,impact-resistant and high-energy-consuming materials have to be developed.The damping characteristic of entangled porous metallic wire materials(EPMWM)for vibration isolation was previously investigated.In this paper,a study focusing on the impact-resistance of EPMWM with the consideration of ambient temperature is presented.The quasi-static and low-velocity impact mechanical behavior of EPMWM under different temperatures(25℃-300℃)are systematically studied.The results of the static compression test show that the damping energy dissipation of EPMWM increases with temperature while the nonlinear damping characteristics are gradually enhanced.During the impact experiments,the impact energy loss rate of EPMWM was between 65%and 85%,while the temperatures increased from 25℃to 300℃.Moreover,under the same drop impact conditions,the overall deformation of EPMWM decreases in the temperature range of 100℃-200℃.On the other hand,the impact stiffness,energy dissipation,and impact loss factor of EPMWM significantly increase with temperature.This can be attributed to an increase in temperature,which changes the thermal expansion coefficient and contact state of the internal wire helixes.Consequently,the energy dissipation mode(dry friction,air damping,and plastic deformation)of EPMWM is also altered.Therefore,the EPMWM may act as a potential candidate material for superior energy absorption applications.

Numerical and experimental evaluation for density-related thermal insulation capability of entangled porous metallic wire material

Entangled porous metallic wire material(EPMWM)has the potential as a thermal insulation material in defence and engineering.In order to optimize its thermophysical properties at the design stage,it is of great significance to reveal the thermal response mechanism of EPMWM based on its complex structural effects.In the present work,virtual manufacturing technology(VMT)was developed to restore the physics-based 3D model of EPMWM.On this basis,the transient thermal analysis is carried out to explore the contact-relevant thermal behavior of EPMWM,and then the spiral unit containing unique structural information are further extracted and counted.In particular,the thermal resistance network is numerically constructed based on the spiral unit through the thermoelectric analogy method to accurately predict the effective thermal conductivity(ETC)of EPMWM.Finally,the thermal diffusivity and specific heat of the samples were obtained by the laser thermal analyzer to calculate the ETC and thermal insulation factor of interest.The results show that the ETC of EPMWM increases with increasing temperature or reducing density under the experimental conditions.The numerical prediction is consistent with the experimental result and the average error is less than 4%.

Additive manufacturing technologies of porous metal implants

Biomedical metal materials with good corrosion resistance and mechanical properties are widely used in orthopedic surgery and dental implant materials,but they can easily cause stress shielding due to the significant difference in elastic modulus between the implant and human bones.The elastic modulus of porous metals is lower than that of dense metals.Therefore,it is possible to adjust the pore parameters to make the elastic modulus of porous metals match or be comparable with that of the bone tissue.At the same time,the open porous metals with pores connected to each other could provide the structural condition for bone ingrowth,which is helpful in strengthening the biological combination of bone tissue with the implants.Therefore,the preparation technologies of porous metal implants and related research have been drawing more and more attention due to the excellent features of porous metals.Selective laser melting(SLM)and electron beam melting technology(EBM)are important research fields of additive manufacturing.They have the advantages of directly forming arbitrarily complex shaped metal parts which are suitable for the preparation of porous metal implants with complex shape and fine structure.As new manufacturing technologies,the applications of SLM and EBM for porous metal implants have just begun.This paper aims to understand the technology status of SLM and EBM,the research progress of porous metal implants preparation by using SLM and EBM,and the biological compatibility of the materials,individual design and manufacturing requirements.The existing problems and future research directions for porous metal implants prepared by SLM and EBM methods are discussed in the last paragraph.

Injection molding of micro-porous titanium alloy with space holder technique

The powder space holder （PSH） and powder injection molding （PIM） methods have an industrial competitive advantage because they are capable of the net-shape production of micro-sized porous parts. In this study, micro-porous Ti6Al4V alloy （Ti64） parts were produced by the PSH-PIM process. Ti64 alloy powder and spherical polymethylrnethacrylate （PMMA） particles were used as a space holder material. After molding, binder debinding was performed by thermal method under inert gas. Debinded samples were sintered at 1250℃ for 60min in a vacuum （10-4 Pa）. Metallographic studies were conducted to determine densification and the corresponding microstructural changes. The surface of sintered samples was examined by SEM. The compressive stress and elastic modulus of the rificro-porous Ti64 samples were determined. The effects of fraction of PMMA on the properties of sintered micro-porous Ti64 alloy samples were investigated. It was shown that the fraction of PMMA could be controlled to affect the properties of the Ti alloy.

Porous bulk metallic glass fabricated by powder hot pressing

A synthesis method for the production of porous bulk metallic glass (BMG) was introduced. This method utilizes the su- perplastic forming ability of amorphous powder in the supercooled liquid (SCL) state and intenerating salt mixture as a placeholder to produce BMG foam by using a hot die pressing method. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and dif- ferential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were employed to characterize the morphologies of foaming structure, the crystallization and the percentage of crystallization of the as-produced porous BMG. The results suggested that the formation of porous structure by su- perplastic forming process is feasible. Good bonding effect was observed between amorphous powder particles. Less than 6.5% of crystalline phases were formed during hot pressing, and less than 5.5% of residual salt was enclosed in the foam. To remove any re- sidual salt particles, salt preforms with three-dimensional network and good connectivity is necessary.

Evolution of Pore Size Distribution and Mean Pore Size in Lotus-type Porous Magnesium Fabricated with Gasar Process

The effect of gas pressures on the mean pore size, the porosity and the pore size distribution of lotus-type porous magnesium fabricated with Gasar process were investigated. The theoretical analysis and the experimental results all indicate that there exists an optimal ratio of the partial pressures of hydrogen PH2 to argon PAr for producing lotus-type structures with narrower pore size distribution and smaller pore size. The effect of solidification mode on the pore size distribution and pore size was also discussed.

ANALYSIS ON INFILTRATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF DEFORMABLE POROUS MATAL RUBBER MATERIAL AND PARAMATERS IDENTIFICATION

The effect of deformation of porous material on infiltrative performance is investigated. Based on Darcy theory and Boit principle, the Reynolds equation and mathematical expression of deformable metal rubber （MR） material under laminar flow are obtained according to the change of porosity of metal rubber. It is shown that the throttle of MR material is dependent on its porosity and diameter of metal wires. It will be of great value for the application of MR in throttle field.

Production and characterization of high porosity porous Fe?Cr?C alloys by the space holder leaching technique

Spherical carbamide particles were employed to produce porous Fe–Cr–C alloy with high porosity and large aperture via the space-holder leaching technique. A series of porous samples were prepared by regulating the processing parameters, which included the carbamide content and the compaction pressure. The pore characteristics and compression properties of the produced samples were investigated. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, image analysis, and compression tests. The results showed that the macro-porosity and the mean pore size were in the ranges 40.4%–82.4% and 0.6–1.5 mm, respectively. The compressive strength varied between 25.38 MPa and 127.9 MPa, and was observed to decrease with increasing total porosity.

Pore structure analysis of directionally solidified porous copper

Directionally solidified porous copper is considered as a potential candidate in the field of microchannel heat sinks.By the Bridgman-type directional solidification method,a porous copper ingot was fabricated.Evolution of the porosity,pore number density,average pore diameter and average interpore spacing at different ingot heights was investigated.The results show that with the increase of ingot height,the porosity firstly increases and then basically remains unchanged from the ignot height of 65 mm;the pore number density rapidly decreases at first,and the decreasing speed becomes slower when the ignot height higher than 85 mm;the average pore diameter increases and then remains unchanged from the ingot height of 85 mm;the average interpore spacing increases,and the increasing speed of average interpore spacing becomes slower with the increase of height to higher than 85 mm.In order to study the evolution of diameter and spatial distribution of pores,the distribution ranges of pore diameter,nearest-neighbor distance and radial cumulative pore number were analyzed.As the ingot height increases,the distribution ranges of pore diameter and nearest-neighbor distance firstly increase and then tend to be stable.There are no pore clusters and for long distance,the spatial distribution of pores is uniform at different ingot heights.Pore structure and 3D pore morphology of porous copper were observed with the help of light illumination and X-ray tomography.Pore nucleation,pore interruption,pore coalescence,diameter change of pores and lateral displacement of pores were found to exist in the pore structure.

Fabrication of lotus-type porous micro-channel copper by single-mold Gasar technique

A single-mold Gasar technique was developed to produce lotus-type porous micro-channel copper with uniform porous structure. In this paper the effect of withdrawal rate on the solid/liquid interface morphology and the corresponding porous structure was systematically investigated, especially the pore morphology, pore growth direction, porosity, and pore diameter of porous copper ingots. In addition, a temperature fi eld simulation was carried out based on Pro Cast software to investigate the shape and movement velocity of the solidifying solid/liquid interface. The experimental results show that the solidifi cation interface changes from convex to planar, then to concave shape with an increase in withdrawal rate. The average porosities of copper ingots are constant and independent of the withdrawal rate. The average pore diameter decreases with an increase in withdrawal rate.

Effect of Porous Copper Pore Density on Joint Interface:Microstructure and Mechanical Analysis

The effect of the pore density of porous copper(Cu)on brazed Cu/porous Cu was investigated.A filler with a composition of Cu⁃9.0Sn⁃7.0Ni⁃6.0P(Sn:Tin;Ni:Nickel;P:Phosphorus)and porous Cu with pore densities of 15 pores per inch(PPI),25 PPI,and 50 PPI were employed.The joint strength of Cu/porous Cu was evaluated with shear tests at different brazing temperatures.Characterizations of the joint interface and fractured surface were achieved with scanning electron microscope(SEM),energy dispersive X⁃ray spectroscopy(EDX),and X⁃ray diffraction(XRD).The micro⁃hardness test of Cu/porous Cu joint interface showed a high hardness value(HV)for 50 PPI porous Cu.This result was in line with its low shear strength.It was proved that the joint strength of Cu/porous Cu is dependent on the pore density of the porous Cu structure and brittle phases of Cu_(3)P and Ni_(3)P in the brazed interface.

Fabrication of Porous Bulk Metallic Glass

An open-cell porous bulk metallic glass （BMG） with a diameter of at least 6 mm was fabricated by using an U-turn quartz tube and infiltration casting around soluble NaCI placeholders. The pore formation and glassy structure were examined by optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The results show that the pores or cells are connected to each other and the specimen is composed of a mostly glassy phase. This paper provides a suitable method for fabrication of porous BMG and BMG with larger size in diameter.

Influence of in situ formed spinel in bonding phase on mechanical properties and air permeability of magnesia-chrome porous purging materials

Magnesia-chrome porous purging plugs are crucial functional components to remove inclusions and stabilize the flow field during iron and steel smelting.However,practical applications of magnesia-chrome porous purging materials are stil hampered by the poor scouring resistance to molten steel and unstable air permeability owing to their low mechanical properties and uncontrollable pore structure.Therefore,the particle-packing type magnesiachrome porous purging materials reinforced by in situ formed spinel were prepared using fused magnesia-chrome particles and Al powders as major raw materials.The results show that in situ formed spinel solid solutions in bonding phase led to the decreased median pore size and increased pore surface fractal dimension from the reactions between Al powders and magnesia-chrome particles and along with high-temperature sintering,bonding between magnesia-chrome particles and the resultant mechanical properties of materials were greatly elevated.Besides,the results of air permeability tests and polynomial ftting indicated that the formation of spinel solid solutions was the main contributing factor for controllable air permeability,and pressure drop of porous purging materials was positively correlated with surface fractal dimension of pores.Moreover,the as-prepared porous purging materials added with 6 wt.%Al powders obtained the maximum cold crushing strength(54.2 MPa)and hot modulus of rupture(12.9 MPa)with median pore size of 24.06μm and ftting non-Darcian permeability coefficient of 0.97×10^(-6)m.