Abstract
The tensile behavior of individual struts extracted from an open-cell aluminum foam is investigated here. X-ray microtomography is used to characterize the initial state of the struts in 3D, before micro-tensile testing performed under digital image correlation. A microstructure-sensitive finite element (FE) model is run afterwards, using a FE mesh conforming to the tomography volume and a constitutive model based on Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) porous plasticity. The model is made dependent on the local measure of intermetallic particles volume fraction in order to account for their embrittlement effect. Model and experiments delineate the first order effect of structure and shape on the plastic flow and fracture of the struts. The distribution of intermetallic particles influences fracture location only where minor variations of cross-section can be found. The model performs well at predicting the fracture zones but misses additional ingredients to assess the dispersion of yield strength among the struts.
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