Metal foam

In materials science, a metal foam is a material or structure consisting of a solid metal (frequently aluminium) with gas-filled pores comprising a large portion of the volume. The pores can be sealed (closed-cell foam) or interconnected (open-cell foam).

Metal foams typically retain some physical properties of their base material. Foam made from non-flammable metal remains non-flammable and can generally be recycled as the base material. Its coefficient of thermal expansion is similar while thermal conductivity is likely reduced.

Definitions

Open-cell

Open-celled metal foam, also called metal sponge,

Fine-scale open-cell foams, with cells smaller than can be seen unaided, are used as high-temperature filters in the chemical industry.

Metal foams are used in compact heat exchangers to increase heat transfer at the cost of reduced pressure.

Metal sponge has very large surface area per unit weight and catalysts are often formed into metal sponge, such as palladium black, platinum sponge, and spongy nickel. Metals such as osmium and palladium hydride are metaphorically called "metal sponges", but this term is in reference to their property of binding to hydrogen, rather than the physical structure.

Closed-cell

Closed-cell metal foam was first reported in 1926 by Meller in a French patent where foaming of light metals, either by inert gas injection or by blowing agent, was suggested.

Closed-cell metal foams were developed in 1956 by John C. Elliott at Bjorksten Research Laboratories. Although the first prototypes were available in the 1950s, commercial production began in the 1990s by Shinko Wire company in Japan. Closed-cell metal foams are primarily used as an impact-absorbing material, similarly to the polymer foams in a bicycle helmet but for higher impact loads. Unlike many polymer foams, metal foams remain deformed after impact and can therefore only be deformed once. They are light (typically 10–25% of the density of an identical non-porous alloy; commonly those of aluminium) and stiff and are frequently proposed as a lightweight structural material. However, they have not been widely used for this purpose.

Closed-cell foams retain the fire resistance and recycling potential of other metal foams, but add the property of flotation in water.

Stochastic foam

A foam is said to be stochastic when the porosity distribution is random. Most foams are stochastic because of the method of manufacture:

Regular foam

A foam is said to be regular when the structure is ordered. Direct molding is one technology that produces regular foams

Plates can be used as casting cores. The shape is customized for each application. This manufacturing method allows for "perfect" foam, so-called because it satisfies Plateau's laws and has conducting pores of the shape of a truncated octahedron Kelvin cell (body-centered cubic structure).

Hybrid foam

Hybrid metal foams typically have a thin film on the underlying porous substrate.

To fabricate hybrid metal foams, thin films are deposited onto a foam substrate with electrodeposition at room temperature.

Recent studies on hybrid foams have also been used to address non-renewable energy resources.

Hybrid metal foams may have favorable conductive properties for flexible devices. Through the application of a thin layer of metal onto a porous polymer substrate via gas-phase deposition, researchers have been able to achieve high conductivity while maintaining the flexibility of the polymer matrix.

Manufacturing

Open-cell

Open cell foams are manufactured by foundry or powder metallurgy. In the powder method, "space holders" are used; as their name suggests, they occupy the pore spaces and channels. In casting processes, foam is cast with an open-celled polyurethane foam skeleton.

Closed-cell

Foams are commonly made by injecting a gas or mixing a foaming agent into molten metal.

To stabilize the molten metal bubbles, high temperature foaming agents (nano- or micrometer- sized solid particles) are required. The size of the pores, or cells, is usually 1 to 8 mm. When foaming or blowing agents are used, they are mixed with the powdered metal before it is melted. This is the so-called "powder route" of foaming, and it is probably the most established (from an industrial standpoint). After metal (e.g. aluminium) powders and foaming agent (e.g. TiH2) have been mixed, they are compressed into a compact, solid precursor, which can be available in the form of a billet, a sheet, or a wire. Production of precursors can be done by a combination of materials forming processes, such as powder pressing,

Composite metal foam

Composite metal foam is made from a combination of homogeneous hollow metal spheres with a metallic matrix surrounding the spheres. This closed-cell metal foam isolates the pockets of air within and can be made out of nearly any metal, alloy, or combination. The sphere sizes can be varied and fine-tuned per application. The mixture of air-filled hollow metal spheres and a metallic matrix provides both light weight and strength. The spheres are randomly arranged inside the material but most often resembles a simple cubic or body-centered cubic structure. CMF is made out of about 70% air and thus, weighs 70% less than an equal volume of the solid parent material. Composite metal foam is the strongest metal foam available with a 5-6 times greater strength to density ratio and over 7 times greater energy absorption capability than previous metal foams.

High-speed impact/blast/ballistics testing

A plate less than one inch thick has enough resistance to turn a .30-06 Springfield standard-issue M2 armour-piercing bullet to dust. The test plate outperformed a solid metal plate of similar thickness, while weighing far less. Other potential applications include nuclear waste (shielding X-rays, gamma rays and neutron radiation) transfer and thermal insulation for space vehicle atmospheric re-entry, with many times the resistance to fire and heat as the plain metals.

CMF can replace rolled steel armour with the same protection for one-third the weight. It can block fragments and the shock waves that are responsible for traumatic brain injuries (TBI). CMF was tested against blasts and fragments. The panels were tested against 23 × 152 mm high explosive incendiary rounds (as in anti-aircraft weapons) that release a high-pressure blast wave and metal fragments at speeds up to 1524 m/s. The CMF panels were able to withstand the blast and frag impacts without bowing or cracking. The thicker sample (16.7 mm thick) was able to completely stop various-sized fragments from three separate incendiary ammunition tests. It was shown that CMF is able to locally arrest the fragments and dissipate the energy of the incident blast wave and impede the spread of failure, as opposed to fully solid materials that transfers the energy across the entire plate, damaging the bulk material.

Composite metal foam panels, manufactured using 2 mm steel hollow spheres embedded in a stainless steel matrix and processed using a powder metallurgy technique, were used together with boron carbide ceramic and aluminium 7075 or Kevlar back panels to fabricate a new composite armour system. This composite armour was tested against NIJ-Type III and Type IV threats using NIJ 0101.06 ballistic test standard. The highly functional layer-based design allowed the composite metal foam to absorb the ballistic kinetic energy effectively, where the CMF layer accounted for 60–70% of the total energy absorbed by the armour system and allowed the composite armour system to show superior ballistic performance for both Type III and IV threats. The results of this testing program suggests that CMF can be used to reduce the weight and increase the performance of armour for Type III and Type IV threats.

CMF has been tested against larger-caliber armour-piercing rounds.

Composite metal foam has been tested in a puncture test. Puncture tests were conducted on S-S CMF-CSP with different thicknesses of stainless steel face sheets and CMF core. The bonding of the S-S CMF core and face sheets was done via adhesive bonding and diffusion bonding. Various thicknesses of the CMF core and face sheets created a variety of target areal densities from about 6.7 to about 11.7 kg per each tile of 30 x 30 cm. Targets were impacted using 2.54 and 3.175 cm diameter steel balls fired at velocities ranging from 120 to 470 m per second, resulting in puncture energies from 488 to 14 500 J over a 5.06–7.91 cm2 impact area for the two size sphere balls. None of the panels, even those with the lowest areal densities, showed complete penetration/puncture through their thickness. This was mostly due to the energy absorption capacity of the S-S CMF core in compression, whereas the face sheets strengthen the CMF core to better handle tensile stresses. Sandwich panels with thicker face sheets show less effectiveness, and a thin face sheet seemed to be sufficient to support the S-S CMF core for absorbing such puncture energies. Panels assembled using adhesive bonding showed debonding of the face sheets from the CMF core upon the impact of the projectile while the diffusion bonded panels showed more flexibility at the interface and better accommodated the stresses. Most diffusion bonded panels did not show a debonding of face sheets from the S-S CMF core. This study proved CMF's energy absorption abilities, indicating that CMF can be used to simultaneously increase protections and decrease weight.

Fire/extreme heat testing

A 12" x 12" x 0.6" thick 316L steel CMF panel with a weight of 3.545 kg was tested in a torch-fire test. In this test, the panel was exposed to over 1204 °C temperatures for 30 minutes. Upon reaching the 30 minutes' time of exposure, the maximum temperature on the unexposed surface of the steel was 400 °C (752 °F) at the center of the plate directly above the jet burner. This temperature was well below the required temperature rise limit of 427 °C; therefore, this sample met the torch fire test requirements. For reference, a solid piece of equal volume steel used for calibration failed this test in about 4 minutes.

It is worth mentioning that the same CMF panel prior to the above-mentioned jet fire testing was subjected to a pool-fire test. In this test, the panel was exposed to 827 °C temperatures for 100 minutes. The panel withstood the extreme temperature for 100 minutes with ease, reaching a maximum backface temperature of 379 °C, far below the 427 °C failure temperature. For reference, the test was calibrated using an equal-sized piece of solid steel that failed the test in approximately 13 minutes.

Composite metal foam has a very low rate of heat transfer and has proven to isolate an extreme temperature of 1,100 °C (2,000 °F) within only a few inches, leaving the material at room temperature just about two inches away from a region of white-hot material. In addition, the steel CMF managed to retain most of its steel-like strength at this temperature while remaining as lightweight as aluminium, a material that would melt instantly at this extreme temperature.

Other abilities

Composite metal foam has shown an ability to shield against x-ray and neutron radiation, absorbs/mitigates shocks, sounds, and vibrations, and can withstand over 1,000,000 high load cycles, outperforming traditional solid metals in each case.

Regular foams gallery

Applications

Design

Metal foam can be used in product or architectural composition.

Mechanical

Foam metal has been used in experimental animal prosthetics. In this application, a hole is drilled into the bone and the metal foam inserted, letting the bone grow into the metal for a permanent junction. For orthopedic applications, tantalum or titanium foams are common for their tensile strength, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility.

The back legs of a Siberian Husky named Triumph received foam metal prostheses. Mammalian studies showed that porous metals, such as titanium foam, may allow vascularization within the porous area.

Orthopedic device manufacturers use foam construction or metal foam coatings

The primary functions of metallic foams in vehicles are to increase sound damping, reduce weight, increase energy absorption in case of crashes, and (in military applications) to combat the concussive force of IEDs. As an example, foam filled tubes could be used as anti-intrusion bars.

Compared to polymer foams in vehicles, metallic foams are stiffer, stronger, more energy absorbent, and resistant to fire and the weather adversities of UV light, humidity, and temperature variation. However, they are heavier, more expensive, and non-insulating.

Metal foam technology has been applied to automotive exhaust gas.

Metal foams are popular support for electrocatalysts due to the high surface area and stable structure. The interconnected pores also benefit the mass transport of reactants and products. However, the benchmark of electrocatalysts can be difficult due to the undetermined surface area, different foam properties, and capillary effect.

Metal foams are used for stiffening a structure without increasing its mass.

The advantage of metal foams is that the reaction is constant, regardless of the direction of the force. Foams have a plateau of stress after deformation that is constant for as much as 80% of the crushing.

Thermal

Tian et al.

Foams offer other thermophysical and mechanical features:

Commercialization of foam-based compact heat exchangers, heat sinks and shock absorbers is limited due to the high cost of foam replications. Their long-term resistance to fouling, corrosion and erosion are insufficiently characterized. From a manufacturing standpoint, the transition to foam technology requires new production and assembly techniques and heat exchanger design.