Fabrication and characterization of layered structure reinforced composite metal foam

Abstract

The layered structure reinforced composite metal foam (LS-CMF) was designed and fabricated using metal fiber grids (MFGs), 316 L stainless steel hollow spheres (MHSs), and A356 aluminum alloy through the casting method. Afterwards, the physical parameters, microstructure and compression performance of the LS-CMF were characterized. The results reveal that the density of the LS-CMF is 1.99 ± 0.06 g/cm3. The MHSs and metal fiber combined well with the matrix and formed the transition layer. The transition layer of single-layer structure between the MHSs and the matrix was composed by Fe2Al7Si phases, while, the transition layer between the metal fiber and the matrix was a three-layer structure composed by Fe2Al7Si, Fe25Al60Si15 and Fe phases. Besides, the compression results prove that the layered structure can increase the average stress plateau strength of CMF by 175%. In this paper, the deformation mechanism of CMF and LS-CMF were also discussed.