Influences of Cell Size, Cell Wall Thickness and Cell Circularity on the Compressive Responses of Closed-Cell Aluminum Foam and its FEA Analysis

In this study, the consequence of cell-size, cell-wall-thickness and cell circularity together on the compressive performance of closed-cell aluminum foam was analyzed experimentally and with FEM simultaneously. The closed-cell metal foams (CAFs) with varying cell sizes of 55% porosity were synthesized through stir casting technique. The granular metallic calcium is used as a stabilizing/thickening agent, and TiH2 powder used as a foaming agent. The uniaxial compression tests were performed to investigate the compressive deformation behavior of CAFs. The simulation studies were carried out by taking the assumption similar to experimental constraints. The circular-shaped cells were created in FE half symmetrical model of varying cell sizes (in 2-Dimensional). The cell sizes used in FE models are 1.5 mm, 2.5 mm, 2.8 mm and of 3.5 mm. While in experimental samples, different cell sizes obtained are 1.65 mm, 2.47 mm, 2.88 mm and 3.59 mm. In both of the investigations, it is observed that the energy absorption capacity and plateau strength decrease with an increase in cell sizes or vice versa. A similar effect was also observed with an increase in cell wall thickness. The obtained FE results are acceptable and comparable with the experimental for each cell size model. The deformation mechanism was analyzed using deformed sample images, which were captured during the deformation as well as during the different stages in the FEA models.

Automated summary

This study simultaneously analyzed the impact of cell size, cell wall thickness, and cell circularity on the compressive performance of closed-cell aluminum foam through experiments and finite element method. The results showed that the energy absorption capacity and plateau strength decreased with an increase in cell size or wall thickness. The deformation mechanism was analyzed using deformed sample images captured during the deformation process and in the FEA models.