Effect of cell size on the microarchitectural and physicomechanical response in open-cell Al foam made through template method

Abstract

Fully open interconnected Al-foam having different PPI (Pores per inch) was fabricated through the novel template method. The morphology of the open-cell Aluminium foam (OCAF) (strut, pore, and cell size) can be easily tailored with this method. Three different PPI (10, 20, and 30) Al-foams were fabricated through the template method, and show the effect of PPIs’ on their microstructure, thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties in detail. With different PPI of the foam, the porosity lies in the range of 85–94%. Through experiments, it was found that with the increase in PPI, the density of the foam gets increases. Complete openness and uniformity in terms of the pore, strut size, and porosity throughout the samples has been easily achieved with this method, which is very difficult with previously reported methods. As the PPI of the foam changes, the properties (electrical, thermal, and mechanical) also change. According to the requirement, one can easily tailor the properties by changing the PPI of the foam. Experimentally evaluated properties were also compared with the theoretically calculated values. The open-cell aluminium foam of 30 PPI (OCAF-30) having RD-0.14 shows electrical conductivity- 0.68 × 106 S/m, thermal conductivity- 6.43 W/m.K, and compressive strength of 0.65 MPa. This study helps the research community to fabricate OCAF according to their requirement with desired thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties for the application of heat transfer, electrocatalysis, and others.