Aluminium Foam Technology-Towards Industrial Implementation

摘要

Aluminium foam can be manufactured applying a variety of methods including direct foaming of aluminium alloy melts and advanced metal powder processing. Complex-shaped foam components and 3D-shaped sandwich panels consisting of foam cores and aluminium face sheets an be produced. The application potential of these materials is discussed for various fields, namely light-weight construction, crash energy absorption and thermal or sound insulation. Four case studies are presented - a lifting arm for a lorry, a crash box for a car, an impact energy absorber for a tram and a motor bracket for a car. Such studies allow us to assess in which application fields aluminium forms perform well and in which direction future development should be directed.