Abstract
The main purpose of this paper was to investigate the relative densities, porosities, compression strength and energy absorbed by porous copper (Cu) formed via the dissolution sintering technique using Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) solution as a binder with Sodium Chloride (NaCl) as space holder. Porous Cu was fabricated through powder metallurgy route using dissolution sintering technique by mixing Cu with NaCl in the volume ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4 and adding PVA solution as binder. The mixture was poured into a press die of 1inch internal diameter and a pressure of 375MPa was applied by a 4 column hydraulic press to create the green form. The NaCl was leached out in hot water at 70°C and then sintered to a temperature of 850°C. Porosity values were determined from density measurements to give the porosity values of 42.2, 44.87, 45.71 and 57.79% for volume ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 respectively. Compression tests were also performed. The results of various plots were used in determining the energy absorbed per unit volume of value of 9.637 MJ/m3, 0.750 MJ/m3, 0.167 MJ/m3, 0.109 MJ/m3 and the compressive strength of 40 MPa, 3.75, 0.72 MPa, 0.26 MPa for volume ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4 respectively. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to characterize the morphology of the pure Cu, the NaCl and the resulting porous Cu.
Highlights
Porous metal production has increased within the last two decades due to its use in many industrial, aerospace and biological applications because of the ability to control the porosities
One important property exhibited by porous metals are their strength to weight ratio which can be exploited in an energy absorption and sound control system environment at minimum cost (Aly, 2007; Salimon et al, 2005) Most of the metal foams in the market are closed aluminum foam which are produced by semi liquid and liquid forming process (Aly, 2007; Salimon et al, 2005; Zhao et al, 2005)
The discs shape of the porous coppers was examined in term of density, relative density, porosity, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis, compressive strength and energy absorbed
Summary
Porous metal production has increased within the last two decades due to its use in many industrial, aerospace and biological applications because of the ability to control the porosities. Various techniques have been used to produce porous metals and Powder Metallurgy (PM) method is one of them. The PM method involves the use of a space holder and examples include magnesium, sodium chloride (NaCl) and carbamide (urea) etc. The choice of NaCl as space holder in this study was due to its semi-spherical shape which gives it more uniform macro pores. If there is an increase in porosities with an acicular pore shapes there is frequently a corresponding decrease in the strength of the foam (Tuncer and Arslan, 2009; Esen and Bor, 2011). Every material structure and method has its own merits and demerits and the dissolution sintering technique to create porous materials has a limitation of not being able to form porosities more than 70% and this is a particular disadvantage in aerospace where they desire a porous material with porosities of almost 90%
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
