preparation of Aluminum Foam as a Light Weight Structural Material
Safa Hasan Mohammed
Abstract

Aluminum foams were manufactured by using powder metallurgy technique, then it was conducted sintering and dissolution process. Were used aluminum powder with particle size (3.63μm) as a raw material and NaCl powder with particle size between (212-400μm) as a space holder. Porosity, Foam density, thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, Young’s modulus, yield stress, energy absorption and pore size were investigated. It have been using optical microscope to investigate the pores. The variables that were used in this study are; NaCl content, dissolution time and compaction pressure. It have been a sintering process for all samples at temperature 650°C for 2 hours. The foam containing NaCl between (30-80 wt. %) at dissolution time (10 hrs) with compaction pressure (200MPa), which showed porosity increased from (28%) to (81%) with increasing the pore size between (0.534 to 0.9 mm), while the foam density decreased from (1.94) to (0.5)g/cm3, thermal conductivity decreased from (12.66) to ( 1.41) W/m.K, Young’s modulus decreased from (1.315) to (0.0228) GPa, yield stress decreased from (32.707) to (0.264) MPa, compressive strength decreased from (118.7) to (3.94) MPa and e absorption energy decreased from (4.57) to (0.15) MJ/m3 and the electrical conductivity also decreased. As for at compacted pressure (200MPa), the foam that containing 60wt.% and 70 wt. % NaCl contents and different dissolution time (4- 12hrs), show that, the Foam with 60wt. % NaCl content shows the following results: the produced porosity increased from (59%) to (63.7%) with pore size between (0.6 to 0.74 mm), foam density decreased from (1.1) to (0.97) g/cm3. as for the Thermal conductivity the decrease ranging from (7.81) to (3.65) W/m.K, Young’s modulus decreased with value ranged between (0.317-0.213GPa), yield stress decreased from (7.336) to (4.225) MPa, compressive strength decreased from (20.25) to (6.53) MPa, as for the energy absorption decreased from (3) to (2.5) MJ/m3 with happening decreasing in electrical conductivity. The foam containing 70wt.% NaCl deals with different dissolution time showed these results, the porosity increased from (70%) to (74.3%) with increasing the pore size from (0.74 to 1.04 mm), foam density decreased from (0.8) to 0.69) g/cm3, thermal conductivity decreased from (3.32) to (2.91) W/m.K and Young’s modulus decreased from (0.299) to (0.125GPa, yield stress decreased from (6.525) to (2.487) MPa, compressive strength decreased from (13.76) to (6.53) MPa, energy absorption decreased from (1.377) to (0.47) MJ/m3 with happening decreasing in electrical conductivity too. While the foam that contain 70 wt. % NaCl with dissolution time (10hrs) and different compaction pressures (150- 250MPa). The results showed, the porosity decreased from (75.32%) to ( 73.27%) with decreasing the pore size from (1.14 to 0.741 mm), the foam density increased between (0.666- 0.72g/cm3), thermal conductivity also increased (2.46- 5.83 W/m.K) and young’s modulus increased from (0.093) to (0.133) GPa, yield stress increased from (2.79) to (4.766) MPa, compressive strength increased from (5.74) to (11) MPa, energy absorption decreased from (0.94) to (1.89) MJ/m3, as for the electrical conductivity increased with increasing compaction pressure.