A PROCESS FOR MAKING LIGHT WEIGHT CENOSPHERE REINFORCED METAL SYNTACTIC FOAM

摘要

(i) melting of alloy, (ii) degassing and cleaning of the molten alloy, (iii) preheating of cenosphere, (iv) addition of preheated cenosphere through mechanical stirring using specially designed stirrer systems at a speed of 600 rpm or more and (v) casting of the mixture in a permanent mould under low pressure. The process developed results in syntactic foam with uniform distribution of the cenospheres. The pore size and density of the material is controlled by the size, and the volume percent of cenosphere respectively. The aluminum-cenosphere syntactic foam thus developed has higher specific strength, stiffness and energy absorption as compared to dense aluminum alloy and composite or conventional aluminium foam.