PROPOSED WORK

TO INVESTIGATE THE COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR

OF ALUMINUM FOAM PREPARED BY MELT ROUTE
METHOD WITH ADDITION OF DIFFERENT
PERCENTAGE OF NICKEL PARTICLES

In The Guidance Of:

Mr. Pawan Kumar Pant.
Assistant professor.
GBPEC Pauri.

Submitted by:
Himanshu Painuly.
M.Tech 2nd year.
Production engg.
GBPEC Pauri.

CONTENTS
Metal Foam.
Manufacturing routes for metal foam.
Foaming Material.
Reference Papers.
Blowing Agent.
Blowing Agent selection.
Property to be examined.
Applications.
Raw Materials.
Preparation Procedure.
References.

METAL FOAM
Metal foam, as one might expect, is a dispersion of gas bubbles in a
metallic bulk material. These extremely lightweight materials (density of
around 0.25 g/cm3) have some very promising properties including high
specific stiffness, very good energy-absorption, low thermal conductivity
and outstanding sound absorption capacity.

Fig 1 Aluminum foam

MANUFACTURING ROUTES
FOR METTALIC FOAMS
Metallic melts can be foamed in one of three ways:
Foaming of Melts by Gas Injection.
Foaming of Melts with Blowing Agents.

Foaming of Powder Compacts.

FOAMING MATERIAL
Al has been chosen as the foaming material as it presents us with the
following advantages:
Low specific weight.
Low foaming temperature (6600C)
Economical.
Foaming procedure can be performed in ambient atmosphere.

REFERENCE PAPERS
S.NO

PAPER

AUTHORS

MATERIAL
USED

METHOD

CONCLUSION

Comparison of
zinc and aluminum
foam.

Jaroslav
kovaeik and
Franticek
Simaneik.

Aluminum
and zinc.

Powder
metallurgy.

Compression
strength of zinc
foams is
significantly lower
at similar density.

Magnesium and
Magnesium Alloy
Foams.

T. R. Neu,
M.Mukherjee,
F. GarciaMoreno &
J. Banhart.

Magnesium Powder
.
metallurgy.

For a given
density Mg foams
show greater
strength than Al
foams but cannot
be foamed at
ambient
conditions.

BLOWING AGENT
A blowing agent can be defined as a material that decomposes under
the influence of heat and releases gas which then propels the foaming
process.
Different chemicals such as carbonates and metal hydrides fit into the
blowing agent description.
Hydrides during decomposition releases H2 while carbonates release
CO2 or CO which are the gases responsible for foaming process.
To produce good quality metal foam the blowing agent must be a
compound that does not detriment the foam metallic matrix and with a
decomposition temperature closed to the melting point of the metal.

BLOWING AGENT SELCTION

S.NO

PAPER

AUTHOR

BLOWING
AGENTS USED

CONCLUSION

The Role of Foaming

Aleksandra V.
Agent in Structure and
Byakova
Mechanical Performance
of Al Based Foams

TIH2 and CaCO3

Finer cell
structure with
CaCo3 compared
to TiH2

Low Cost Aluminum

foams made by CaCO3
particulates

CaCO3

More
Homogenous cell
structure was
obtained

Varuan Kevorkijan

PROPERTY TO BE EXAMINED
The aim of the research work is to enhance the compressive strength
of aluminum foam and for that nickel particles will be added to the
melt. Nickel has been chosen based on following reference papers.
S.NO PAPER

AUTHORS

MATERIAL USED

CONCLUSION

Aluminum foams Paula

fabricated by the Mercedes
PM route using Proa Flores.
Nickel-coated
Titanium Hydride
powders.

Aluminum
powders with 1
wt.% of nickel
coated TiH2
powders.

The stress-strain curve of the foam

produced without the nickel
coated TiH2 displays a lower
strength (2.62 MPa) than the foam
produced with the coated foaming
agent (2.88 MPa).

Improving High
Temperature
Performance of
Aluminum Foams
by Nickel Coating.

Nickel coated
aluminum foam.

The results show the fact that

nickel coating can effectively
improve the compressive property
of aluminum foams, especially at
high temperature near and beyond
the melting point of aluminum.

Zhuokun
Cao, Huan
Liu, Yihan
Liu and
Guangchun
Yao.

APPLICATIONS
The combined effect of enhanced compressive strength and already
present good sound absorbing capacity makes aluminum foam a
suitable material for structural applications.
It can be used to construct:
Seminar halls.
Indoor stadium.
Auditoriums.

RAW MATERIALS
The raw materials to be used are as follows:
Aluminum ingots.
Ca granules (thickening agent).
CaCO3 (foaming agent).
Ni particles.

PREPARATION PROCEDURES
Melting certain quality of commercially pure aluminum (1 kg) in a
cast iron crucible to a fixed temperature.
Adding certain quantity of Ca granules (2 wt.%)and different contents
(0%, 0.2%, 1.0%, 2.0%) of Ni particles to the melt accompanied by
stirring, with the stirring speed of 500 rpm and stirring time of 10 min.
Adding certain amount of CaCO3 to the melt accompanied by stirring
and holding for some time, with the stirring speed of 1500 rpm for 30
sec and holding time of 4 min.
Cooling the flux in the air after it was foamed.

REFERENCES
Banhart, J., 2001, "Manufacture, Characterization and Application of
Cellular Metals and Metal Foams," Progress in Materials Science,
46(6), pp. 559-632.
Bart-Smith, H., Bastawros, A. F., Mumm, D. R., Evans, A. G.,
Sypeck, D. J., and Wadley, H. N. G., 1998, "Compressive
Deformation and Yielding
Mechanisms in Cellular Al Alloys Determined Using X-Ray
Tomography and Surface Strain Mapping," Acta Materialia, 46(10),
pp. 3583-3592.
Banhart, J., 2000, "Manufacturing Routes for Metallic Foams," JOM,
52(12), pp. 22-27
T. Wuebben, S. Odenbach and J. Banhart, Proc. Eurofoam 2000,
(Eds.) P. Zitha, J. Banhart, G. Verbist (MIT-Verlag Bremen), pp. 98103, 2000.

 LI Ai-bin, XU Hong-yu, GENG Lin, LI Bin-ling, TAN Zheng-bin,

REN Wei,2012, Preparation and characterization of SiCp/2024Al
composite foams by powder metallurgy
Baumgrtner, F., Duarte, I., and Banhart, J., 2000, "Industrialization of
Powder Compact Foaming Process," Advanced Engineering
Materials, 2(4), pp. 168-174.
Bhosle, V., Baburaj, E. G., Miranova, M., and Salama, K., 2003,
"Dehydrogenation of TiH2 Materials Science and Engineering A, 356
(1-2), pp. 190-199.
Yuliy V. Milman1 and Takashi Nakamura2 The Role of Foaming
Agent in Structure and Mechanical Performance of Al Based Foams.