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metal foam

Submitted by Henry Tan on
research
materials science

cellular metal: space is divided into distinct cells. The boundaries of these cells are made of solid metal, the interior are voids. Ideally, the individual cells are all separated from each other by metal but often this restriction is relaxed

porous metal: the metal contains a multitude of pores, i.e. closed, curved gas voids with a smooth surface.

metal(lic) foam: foams are special cases of porous metals. A solid foam originates from a liquid foam in which gas bubbles are finely dispersed in a liquid.

metal sponge: space is filled by pieces of metal that form a continuous network and co-exist with a network of empty space which is also interconnected.

Henry Tan

Applications in impact-absorbing systems probably offer the greatest potential for metallic foams.

Their exceptional ability to absorb large amounts of energy at almost constant pressure suggests applications ranging from automobile bumpers to aircraft crash recorders.

Sat, 03/10/2007 - 21:57 Permalink
Henry Tan

The acoustic properties of metallic foams mean that they find uses in many places where sound absorption is vital, e.g. along the sides of a road to reduce traffic noise.

Sat, 03/10/2007 - 22:05 Permalink
Shiva Pingle

Hello Bin,

Now sandwich structures with metfoam cores can offer real benefits as ultralight structures, giving high specific stiffness & strength.If you see Stress-strain response of metal foams under compression, a long plateau stress at which strain continues to increase is observed. This gives high area under curve for metal foams. This straining at constant stress continues until the foam compacts & cells touch each other causing densification. The strain at which this occurs is called densification strain.More figure 4.2, 4.3 in Metal Foam, Design guide by Ashby, Gibson, Fleck ………. Metal Foams are seen as promising core materials within sandwich structures rather than a substitute. 

Sun, 03/11/2007 - 17:26 Permalink