Evaluation of Structural Porous Metals.
Abstract
Porous metals possess a number of attractive property attributes that may enhance current system capabilities. These include mechanical properties, energy absorption properties, acoustic attributes and thermal properties. There is continuing work to evaluate key performance characteristics such as corrosion resistance and fatigue behavior. In this program, two new commercial products are studied, aluminum alloy foam from Austrian Metal Company (AMAG) and aluminum (A356) and nickel (Hastelloy-X) alloy Lattice Block Material (LBM(TM)) from JAMCORP. These materials were evaluated for their macrostructural features, microstructural characteristics and mechanical performance. The aluminum foam, equivalent to 6061 aluminum alloy, was fabricated in both plate and cylindrical forms at two densities ranges. All product forms exhibit variation in macrostructure which causes significant variation in the measured compression, tension and bending properties. In general, the experimental data compare well with the models of Gibson & Ashby. In contrast, the LBM(TM) product shows an extremely repeatable structure which leads to superior compression and bending properties coupled with reduced data scatter. Using bulk parent metal stress-strain properties, finite element model predictions correlate well with experimental findings. Additional prediction are made for the effect of unit cell size, ligament diameter and parent metal strength on the performance of LBM(TM).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 10, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA333432
Entities
People
- Mark L. Renauld
- Mark S. Thompson
Organizations
- United Technologies Corporation