Maejar Grenl Anne Pinca Cherwin Ayapana Jaime Tan Jr.

A metal foam is a cellular structure consisting of a solid metal, frequently aluminium, containing a large volume fraction of gas-filled pores. The pores can be sealed (closed-cell foam), or they can form an interconnected network (open-cell foam). The defining characteristic of metal foams is a very high porosity: typically 75-95% of the volume consists of void spaces. The strength of foamed metal possesses a power law relationship to its density; i.e., a 20% dense material is more than twice as strong as a 10% dense material. Metallic foams typically retain some physical properties of their base material. Foam made from nonflammable metal will remain non-flammable and the foam is generally recyclable back to its base material. Coefficient of thermal expansion will also remain similar while thermal conductivity will likely be reduced

Metal foam compact heat exchanger for high temperature service. Foam material is PFCTs FeCrAlY.

A closed-cell foam with porosity of about 80% floating on water.

AlMgCu foam blown by an Intrinsic gas source. This is 3D visualization of the foam by X-ray tomography.

A test rig is assembled at NASAs Glenn Research Center to evaluate the noise reduction of a newly-developed metallic foam liner. Image Credit: NASA

Application:
Lightweight aerospace vehicle structures Military vehicle/structure armor Structural shock absorbers to protect against earthquake vibration Implantable biomedical devices Sound absorptive material High temperature Filters Vehicle crumple zones/collision absorbers Boat hulls Oil-well drilling platforms Fire retardant structuresa

Two types of Metal Foam:

Open Cell Metal Foam

Closed Cell Metal Foam

Open Cell Metal Foam

Open celled metal foams are usually replicas using open-celled polyurethane foams as a skeleton and have a wide variety of applications including heat exchangers (compact electronics cooling,cryogen tanks, PCM heat exchangers), energy absorption, flow diffusion and lightweight optics. Due to the high cost of the material it is most typically used in advanced technology aerospace and manufacturing. Extremely fine-scale open-cell foams, with cells too small to be visible to the naked eye, are used as hightemperature filters in the chemical industry. Metallic foams are nowadays used in the field of compact heat exchangers to increase heat transfer at the cost of an additional pressure drop. However, their use permits to reduce substantially the physical size of a heat exchanger, and so fabrication costs. To model these materials, most works uses idealized and periodic structures or averaged macroscopic properties.

The microstructure of a typical cellular metal foam having open cells consists of ligaments forming a network of inter-connected dodecahedral-like cells, as shown in the upper picture. The cells are randomly oriented, and mostly homogeneous in size and shape. Pore size may be varied from approximately 0.1 to 7 mm. The relative density, defined as the ratio of the density of the foam to that of the solid of which the foam is made, can be varied from 3 to 15%. (The relative density of the foam can be increased by compression, if necessary.) Alloys and single-element materials are available. Common materials include copper, aluminium, stainless steel and steel alloy FeCrAlY (Fe20 wt.% Cr5 wt.% Al2 wt.% Y20 wt.%).

Closed Cell Metal Foam

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. The next two patents on sponge-like metal were issued to Benjamin Sosnik in 1948 and 1951 who applied mercury vapor to blow liquid aluminium. Closed-cell metal foams have been developed since about 1956 by John C. Elliott at Bjorksten Research Laboratories. Although the first prototypes were available in the 50s, commercial production was started only in the 90s by Shinko Wire company in Japan. Metal foams are commonly made by injecting a gas or mixing a foaming agent (frequently TiH2) into molten metal. In order to stabilize the molten metal bubbles, high temperature foaming agent (nano- or micrometer sized solid particles) is required. The size of the pores, or cells, is usually 1 to 8 mm.

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 used once. They are light (typically 10 25% of the density of the metal they are made of, which is usually aluminium) and stiff, and are frequently proposed as a lightweight structural material. However, they have not yet been widely used for this purpose. Closed-cell foams retain the fire resistant and recycling capability of other metallic foams but add an ability to float in water.

PRODUCTION METHODS FOR METALLIC FOAMS

Under certain circumstances metallic melts can be foamed by creating gas bubbles in the liquid. Normally, gas bubbles formed in a metallic melt tend to quickly rise to its surface due to the high buoyancy forces in the high-density liquid. This rise can be hampered by increasing the viscosity of the molten metal, either by adding fine ceramic powders or alloying elements to form stabilizing particles in the melt or by other means. Metallic melts can be foamed in one of three ways: by injecting gas into the liquid metal from an external source, by causing an in-situ gas formation in the liquid by admixing gas-releasing blowing agents to the molten metal, or by causing the precipitation of gas which was previously dissolved in the liquid.

MANUFACTURING OF ALUMINUM FOAM

The first method of foaming aluminum and aluminum alloys comprises the preparation of an aluminum melt containing one of the substances, making it a metal-matrix composite (MMC). This step reportedly requires sophisticated mixing techniques to ensure a uniform distribution of particles. A variety of aluminum alloys can be used.

The melt is foamed in a second step by injecting gases (air, nitrogen, argon) into it using specially designed rotating impellers or vibrating nozzles. These generate very fine gas bubbles in the melt and distribute them uniformly. The resultant viscous mixture of bubbles and metal melt floats up to the surface of the liquid where it turns into a fairly dry liquid foam as the liquid metal drains out. Because ceramic particles are in the melt, the foam is relatively stable. It can be pulled off the liquid surface and is then allowed to cool down and solidify. The resulting solid foam is, in principle, as long as desired, as wide as the vessel containing the liquid metal allows it, and typically 10 cm thick.

Aluminum Foam
Compression Strength Tensile Strength* Modulus of (Compression)* Modulus (Tension)* of 367 psi 180 psi Elasticity 15 103 psi Elasticity 14.6 103 psi (2.53 MPa) (1.24 MPa) (103.08 MPa) (101.84 MPa)

Vickers Pyramid Number Specific Heat

35 HV .214 BTU/lb-F (.895 J/g-C)

Coefficient of Thermal 13.1 10-6 in/in--F Expansion (0-100C) Bulk Resistivity Melting Point 2.84 10-5 ohm - in 1220F

(23.58 10-6 m/m--C)

(7.2 10-5 ohm - cm) (660C)

Characteristics: Low Density High Strength to Weight Ratio High Surface area to Volume Ratio isotropic load response controlled stress-strain Characteristics Can be Heat Treated Brazable Can be coated and plated

Copper Foam
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Porosity

METRIC 65.0 - 95.0 % 5.35e-10 1.54e-9 1300 4100

ENGLISH 65.0 - 95.0 % 5.35e-10 - 1.54e-9 1300 4100

Permeability

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES Tensile Strength, Yield Modulus of Elasticity THERMAL PROPERTIES Specific Heat Capacity Thermal Conductivity 0.115 J/g-C 2.00 - 10.0 W/m-K 0.0275 BTU/lb-F 13.9-69.4BTU-in/hr-ftF 0.250 - 2.50 Mpa 0.100 - 0.370 Gpa 36.3 - 363 psi 14.5 - 53.7 ksi

Why focusing on copper foams? Every type of metal, in the shape of a foam or not, has distinctive properties (oxidation, electrical conductivity, resistance to high temperature, etc). Copper has some interesting thermal conductivity properties compared to other metals. As a result, copper was chosen by Meta foam in targeting the electronics thermal management market.

The main advantages of this copper foam are: - Low product cost - High product quality - High metal purity - High metallic ductility - Excellent solder ability - Suitable for adhesive bonding applications

Compression Strength Tensile Strength*

Metals Usually Manufactured for Foaming: Carbon Foam

15-75 psi 25-50 psi

(0.10-0.52 MPa) (0.17-0.34 MPa)

Modulus of Elasticity (Tension)*

14.6 103 psi

(101.84 MPa)

Specific Heat Bulk Thermal Conductivity Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (0-100C) Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (100-1000C) Bulk Resistivity Temperature Limitations In air

.3

BTU/

lb

F
ft

(1.26 J/g C) hrF (0.033 - 0.050 W/m C) (2.2 10-6 m/mC) (3.2 10-6 m/mC) (32.3 10-2 ohm cm) (315C)

0.021 - 0.29

BTU/

1.2 10-6 in/inF 1.8 10-6 in/inF 12.7 10-2 ohm in 600F

Characteristics: Low Density High Strength to Weight Ratio High Surface area to Volume Ratio isotropic load response Applications: controlled stress-strain Molten metal filtration Characteristics Energy storage devices Catalysis Advantages: Extremely lightweight Biomedical devices Furnace fixturing and tooling Thermally insulating Electrically conductive Electric contactors Easily machinable to near-net-shape Resistant to thermal shock Chemically inert

Zinc Metal Foam Zinc Foam is low density permeable material with numerous applications. The defining characteristic of these foams is a very high porosity, typically 75-95% of the volume consisting of void spaces. Metallic foams have found a wide variety of applications in heat exchangers, energy absorption, flow diffusion and lightweight optics.

The foaming of the zinc or its alloys requires either higher overheating above the melting temperature than it is in the case of aluminium foams, or needs higher amount of foaming agent, providing TiH2 is used for this purpose.

Shape-Memory Alloy

Shape-memory alloy

A shape-memory alloy (SMA, smart metal, memory metal, memory alloy, muscle wire, smart alloy) is an alloy that "remembers" its original, cold-forged shape: returning the pre-deformed shape by heating. This material is a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems. Shape-memory alloys have applications in industries including medical and aerospace.

3 main types of shape-memory alloys

Copper-zinc aluminum nickel

Copper-aluminium-nickel,

Nickel Titanium (NiTi) alloys

Crystal structures

Many metals have several different crystal structures at the same composition, but most metals do not show this shape-memory effect. The special property that allows shapememory alloys to revert to their original shape after heating is that their crystal transformation is fully reversible. In most crystal transformations, the atoms in the structure will travel through the metal by diffusion, changing the composition locally, even though the metal as a whole is made of the same atoms. A reversible transformation does not involve this diffusion of atoms, instead all the atoms shift at the same time to form a new structure,

Manufacture
Shape-memory alloys are typically made by casting, using vacuum arc melting or induction melting. These are specialist techniques used to keep impurities in the alloy to a minimum and ensure the metals are well mixed. The ingot is then hot rolled into longer sections and then drawn to turn it into wire. The way in which the alloys are "trained" depends on the properties wanted. The "training" dictates the shape that the alloy will remember when it is heated. This occurs by heating the alloy so that the dislocations re-order into stable positions, but not so hot that the material recrystallizes. They are heated to between 400 C and 500 C for 30 minutes. Typical variables for some alloys are 500 C and for more than 5 minutes. They are then shaped while hot and are cooled rapidly by quenching in water or by cooling with air.

Properties

The yield strength of shape-memory alloys is lower than that of conventional steel, but some compositions have a higher yield strength than plastic or aluminum. The yield stress for Ni Ti can reach 500 Mpa. The high cost of the metal itself and the processing requirements make it difficult and expensive to implement SMAs into a design. As a result, these materials are used in applications where the super elastic properties or the shape-memory effect can be exploited.

Applications

Piping The first consumer commercial application for the material was as a shape-memory coupling for piping, e.g. oil line pipes for industrial applications, water pipes and similar types of piping for consumer/commercial applications.

Medicine Shape-memory alloys are applied in medicine, for example, as fixation devices for osteotomies in orthopaedic surgery, in dental braces to exert constant tooth-moving forces on the teeth.

Optometry
Eyeglass frames made from titanium-containing SMAs are marketed under the trademarks Flexon and TITANflex.