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.

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.

Carbonates as Foaming Agent in Chip-based Aluminium Foam Precursor

Replacement of TiH2 as foaming agent by CaCO3（lime） and CaMg（CO3）2（dolomite） for AlMg4.5-and AlSi9Cu3-foams was investigated considering inluences on foaming capability and cellular structure.Precursor materials were produced from alloy chip and powder mixtures by means of the thixocasting process.AlSi9Cu3 variants showed expansion levels suffcient for commercial use.Variations in expansion observed when CaCO3 and CaMg（CO3）2 were compared as foaming agent are explained based on the course of decomposition.Improved performance of dolomite-based foams relies on formation of stabilizing MgO phases,which do not develop during decomposition of CaCO3 in Al-Si-Cu alloys

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.