Alulight - Aluminum Foam for Lightweight Construction

摘要

The new concept for design and manufacturing of lightweight load-bearing components has been presented. This concept is based on utilization of complex shaped hollow parts (such as hydroformed profiles or castings) which are (partially) filled with aluminum foam prepared by PM techniques. Partial foaming will improve the properties in weakest points of the hollow component which allows to design its overall thickness according to mean and not peak stress, thus saving the overall weight and increasing the property to weight ratio. Utilization of aluminum foam core will increase the capability of component to absorb crash energy in multiple impact directions. The reduction of noise and vibration of initially hollow component is expected as well.