The shear response of aluminum foam, including size effects, is measured and quantified for a closed-cell aluminum foam. The shear stiffness is shown to depend linearly on density, whereas the strength exhibits a power law dependence. The linear response is shown to be independent of strain rate up to rates of 0.17/s, whereas the strength and energy absorption increase with increasing strain rate. The density dependence of the stiffness is reproduced analytically based on the composite cylinders model. Optical techniques are used to measure the strain field of the experimental specimens throughout the loading program. By evaluation of concentric subregidns of the sample, a sample size of 18 mean cell diameters is determined to be the dimension below which the uncertainty in the predicted shear modulus of an aluminum foam sample increases significantly. This length scale threshold is replicated in a periodic finite element structure with randomly distributed imperfections.
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