Effect of pore size on the tensile behavior of open-cell Ti foams: Experimental results

Abstract

Open-cell Ti foams having an average pore size of 50 and 150 µm, respectively have been subjected to room temperature tensile tests to explore their tensile properties. Since extensometry is difficult in foams due to problems such as localized surface deformation and attachment of clip gauges, the foams' mechanical properties have been measured in this work accurately by the help of a camera which records the resulting dimensional changes during the loading. The camera acts as a non-contact extensometer and thus it helps in avoiding any small amounts of pre-deformation that might be caused by the attachment of conventional extensometer to the sample's surface prior to testing. Ti foam samples of smaller pores were found to experience higher strength and elongation than those with larger ones. The cell walls in both foam samples failed suddenly in the 45° maximum shear plane direction.