Sound absorption coefficient optimization of gradient sintered metal fiber felts

An optimization method for sound absorption of gradient(multi-layered) sintered metal fiber felts is presented. The theoretical model based on dynamic flow resistivity is selected to calculate the sound absorption coefficient of the sintered metal fiber felts since it only requires three key morphological parameters: fiber diameter, porosity and layer thickness. The model predictions agree well with experimental measurements. Objective functions and constraint conditions are then set up to optimize separately the distribution of porosity, fiber diameter, and simultaneous porosity and fiber diameter in the metal fiber. The optimization problem for either a sole frequency or a pre-specified frequency range is solved using a genetic algorithm method. Acoustic performance comparison between optimized and non-optimized metal fibers is presented to confirm the effectiveness of the optimization method. Gradient sintered metal fiber felts hold great potential for noise control applications particularly when stringent restriction is placed on the total volume and/or weight of sound absorbing material allowed to use.

Uniaxial tensile behavior of porous metal fiber sintered sheet

A novel porous metal fiber sintered sheet （PMFSS） with a three-dimensional reticulated structure was fabricated by multi-tooth cutting and high-temperature solid-phase sintering process with copper fibers. A uniaxial tensile test was conducted to investigate the effect of fiber length and natural aging factor on the tensile properties of the PMFSS. Results indicated that, under given stress, the increase of fiber length helped reinforce the tensile strength. The elongation of the PMFSS with medium length fiber of 15 mm exhibited the optimal performance, reaching about 13.5%. After natural aging treatment for a month, the tensile strength of PMFSS significantly decreased, but the change of elongation was negligible except for the one with the shortest fiber length of 5 mm, whose elongation was effectively improved. The morphological fracture features of PMFSSs were also characterized.

Three-dimensional simulation of sintering crunodes of metal powders or fibers by level set method

The difference of sintering crunodes of metal powders and fibers is discussed. The mathematical model of the surface diffusion described by the difference in mean curvature is defined as a Hamilton-Jacobi-type equation, and the model is numerically solved by the level set method. The three-dimensional numerical simulations of two metal powders and fibers(the fiber angle is 0° or 90°) are implemented by this mathematical model, respectively. The numerical simulation results accord with the experimental ones. The sintering neck growth trends of metal powders and metal fibers are similar. The sintering neck radius of metal fibers is larger than that of metal powders. The difference of the neck radius is caused by the difference of geometric structure which makes an important influence on the curvature affecting the migration rate of atoms.