Modares Mechanical Engineering

Modares Mechanical Engineering

The Effect of the Number of Immersion Times in Slurry on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Foam Produced by Slurry Casting Method

Document Type : Original Research

Author
Asal Hosseini Monazzah
Abstract
Slurry casting method is a novel process to produce metal forms, which makes it possible to produce a porous structure with open cell. In the present study, the microstructure and compressive behavior of aluminum foams produced by slurry casting method, under different number of immersion times were investigated. For the production of aluminum foams with different cell sizes, polyurethane preforms with characteristics of 45, 55 and 65 ppi were selected, and after immersing in a slurry having a solid mass of 88% and removing the excess semiliquid mixture, the samples were sintered at 630˚C. The size of polyurethane perform cell as well as the number of immersion times control the microstructure and compression performance of porous structures. The results of the study showed that the portability of porous aluminum increases by decreasing the size of preform cell or increasing the number of immersion times, which leads to thicker strut. In addition, the probability of crack existence, exactly at the corner of structures, decrease via enhancing the thickness of strut. Meanwhile, excessive increase in the number of immersion, i.e. third times, was associated with some closed-cells which results in strain localization and stress concentration. Therefore, the maximum plateau stress as well as the superior energy absorption capacity was observed in the sample having the minimum preform pore sizes which was immersed for two times in the aluminum slurry.
Keywords
Aluminum foam
Slurry Casting
Number of Immersion Times
Microstructure
Compressive Behavior

Subjects

DIN 50134, Compression test of metallic cellular materials.
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Modares Mechanical Engineering
Volume 21, Issue 1
January 2021
Pages 1-9