Fabrication of Large-Scale Porous Aluminum by Enhanced Friction Powder Compaction Process through Traversing Tool Based on Sintering and Dissolution Process

Abstract

Open-cell porous aluminum with a controlled pore structure can be fabricated by sintering and dissolution process. To overcome the size limitation of porous aluminum fabricated by the sintering and dissolution process, an enhanced friction powder compaction (FPC) process for fabricating porous aluminum was proposed. In this process, the rotating tool plunged into the powder mixture and die during the FPC process is made to traverse perpendicular to the direction of plunging. It was found that long porous aluminum can be fabricated with a length equal to the tool traversing length. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation of the pore structures, it was found that although the region in the vicinity of the traversing rotating tool had an elongated pore structure, almost the entire sample had a pore structure that was similar to the NaCl morphology, regardless of the traversing direction. From compression test, fabricated porous aluminum exhibited ductile fracture, which is considered to be attributed to the good bonding between aluminum particles. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2013318]