Forming metal foams by simpler methods for cheaper solutions

摘要

Making metal foams from consolidated powder mixtures was "rediscovered" , about 15 years ago at one of Germany's best known research institutes in advanced materials - Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen [1]. The consolidated powder mixture is made up of metal powder and a powdered blowing agent. It is sometimes known as the foam able precursor. To produce foam it is heated to the melting point of the metal, but just before the metal becomes liquid the blowing agent decomposes and produces gas. As soon as the metal melts, the trapped gas expands in many thousands of pores and produces the liquid metal foam, which solidifies by cooling. The whole metal foaming process can be carried out in moulds that shape the liquid foam into a defined geometry for near net shape metal foam part production.