MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF ALUMINUM ALLOY FOAMS

摘要

The existing theoretical models for describing the mechanical behaviorof metal foams are based on the assumption of uniform thickness of celledges. Analysis results indicate that the mechanical behavior of closedcellmetal foams depends on their relative density, the volume fractionof solid contained in cell edges and the mechanical properties of solidcell edges. A series of mechanical testing on closed-cell aluminumalloy foams *with various relative densities were conducted to measuretheir elastic modulus, plastic collapse strength, fracture toughness andfatigue life. Experimental results are compared to the theoreticalexpressions; the agreement is good. It is also verified that the existingtheoretical expressions are applicable to predict the mechanicalproperties of aluminum alloy foams. At the same time, the cellmorphology of closed-cell aluminum alloy foams is characterized andthe corresponding microstructure coeffkients included in thetheoretical expressions for describing their mechanical properties aredetermined.