Fabrication and Mechanical Testing of the Aluminum Foam Produced by Sintering and Dissolution Process

Abstract

In the present study, fabrication of the aluminum (Al) foam through sintering and dissolution process and effect of space holder (NaCl) mean size on compressive behavior of metallic foam has been investigated. Due to improper cold bonding between Al particles in low compaction pressure spalling of the foam was observed. Appropriate compacting pressure and sintering temperature of the compacts resulted in production of high quality Al foams. SEM was used to characterize the morphology of produced Al foam and mechanical behavior of produced foams was evaluated using compression test machine. The results show that open-cell Al foam free from cracks was obtained and an increase in NaCl mean size resulted in increases of the compressive strength, Young modulus and plateau stress of the stress-strain curves.