Improvement of aluminium foam technology by tailoring of blowing agent

Abstract

Aluminium foams produced by melting powder compacts containing a blowing agent are usually quite non uniform which might lead to inferiaor mechanical properties. The reasons for this can be thermal gradients during foaming and a blowing agent which is not adapted to the melting range of the alloy which is foamed. We discuss the various strategies to improve aluminium foams and then demonstrate that titanium hydride can be tailored by selective oxidation and partial discharge to yield more uniform foams. We find that the expansion potential of the foams and the uniformity of cell size distribution is improved and the individual cell walls are smoother and less corrugated when using pre treated TiH