Investigating the internal structure and mechanical properties of graphene nanoflakes enhanced aluminum foam

Abstract

The manuscript focuses on analyzing the pore morphology and pore distribution of novel graphene nanoflakes reinforced aluminum foam (GNF-AF) and investigating their mechanical properties under quasi-static compressive loadings. Experimental results indicate the existence of GNFs can reduce the pore diameter, refine the pore morphology, and improve the pore distribution. Distinguish from other brittle foams, GNF-AF presents smooth stress-strain curve, wherein the local buckling deformation, shear deformation, tensile deformation combinate the whole compressive behavior. By comparing the plateau stress, energy absorption, and specific energy absorption of GNF-AF with varying content of GNFs, a notable improvement of 29.0%, 28.5%, and 27.9% was detected by adding 0.10wt% GNFs. Besides, the energy absorption efficiency of enhanced aluminum foam was slightly improved.