Open-Cellular Alumina Foams with Hierarchical Strut Porosity by Ice Templating: A Thickening Agent Study

Alumina replica foams were manufactured by the Schwartzwalder sponge replication technique and were provided with an additional strut porosity by a freeze-drying/ice-templating step prior to thermal processing. A variety of thickeners in combination with different alumina solid loads in the dispersion used for polyurethane foam template coating were studied. An additional strut porosity as generated by freeze-drying was found to be in the order of ~20%, and the spacings between the strut pores generated by ice-templating were in the range between 20 µm and 32 µm. In spite of the lamellar strut pore structure and a total porosity exceeding 90%, the compressive strength was found to be up to 1.3 MPa. Combining the replica process with freeze-drying proves to be a suitable method to enhance foams with respect to their surface area accessible for active coatings while preserving the advantageous flow properties of the cellular structure. A two-to-threefold object surface-to-object volume ratio of 55 to 77 mm−1 was achieved for samples with 30 vol% solid load compared to 26 mm−1 for non-freeze-dried samples. The freeze-drying technique allows the control of the proportion and properties of the introduced pores in an uncomplicated and predictable way by adjusting the process parameters. Nevertheless, the present article demonstrates that a suitable thickener in the dispersion used for the Schwartzwalder process is inevitable to obtain ceramic foams with sufficient mechanical strength due to the necessarily increased water content of the ceramic dispersion used for foam manufacturing

Reticulated Open-Celled Zinc Oxide Ceramic Foams: Manufacturing, Microstructure, Mechanical, and Thermal Properties

Open-celled zinc oxide ceramic foams were prepared by the polymer sponge replication (Schwartzwalder) technique from aqueous ZnO dispersions with Sb2O3 and Bi2O3 as sintering additives, and mechanically stable ZnO foams with an average porosity of 93.6% were obtained. Their microstructure consists of ZnO grains with a Bi-containing grain boundary phase together with a Zn-Sb-O secondary phase with spinel structure. The obtained ZnO ceramic foams were characterized with respect to their morphology by computed tomography; in addition, the compressive strength and the thermal conductivity were determined, and the data were applied for modelling of the mechanical and thermal properties of the bulk ZnO strut material

Hierarchical‐porous copper foams by a combination of sponge replication and freezing techniques

Open-porous copper foams with additional strut porosity are manufactured by two different manufacturing routes. The first is based on the Schwarzwalder sponge replication technique. The second method is a combination of Schwartzwalder sponge replication and freezing technique in which an additional strut porosity is generated inside the struts of the sponge-replicated foams by freezing at 20 C for 24 h and subsequent sublimation. Thermal processing of both types of foams is conducted at 500 and 900 C for 6 h in a hydrogen-containing atmosphere to reduce copper oxides and to facilitate the sintering process of the copper powder particles. Despite significant shrinkage of both foam series after thermal processing, hollow struts and lamellar pores keep their shape and do not collapse. The influences of the additional lamellar pores and thermal processing temperature on the cellular structure, porosity, specific surface area, yield strength, absorbed energy, and thermal conductivity are studied. The additional strut porosity generated by the freezing step significantly increases the specific surface area of the copper foams by a factor of 2 in comparison to the sponge replicated foams.Projekt DEAL 202

Manufacturing of Open-Cell Aluminium Foams: Comparing the Sponge Replication Technique and Its Combination with the Freezing Method

The manufacturing of aluminium foams with a total porosity of 87% using the sponge replication method and a combination of the sponge replication and freezing technique is presented. Foams with different cell counts were prepared from polyurethane (PU) templates with a pore count per inch (ppi) of 10, 20 and 30; consolidation of the foams was performed in an argon atmosphere at 650 °C. The additional freezing steps resulted in lamellar pores in the foam struts. The formation of lamellar pores increased the specific surface area by a factor of 1.9 compared to foams prepared by the sponge replication method without freezing steps. The formation of additional lamellar pores improved the mechanical properties but reduced the thermal conductivity of the foams. Varying the pore cell sizes of the PU template showed that—compared to foams with dense struts—the highest increase (~7 times) in the specific surface area was observed in foams made from 10 ppi PU templates. The effect of the cell size on the mechanical and thermal properties of aluminium foams was also investigated

Open-cell aluminum foams by the sponge replication technique

Open-cell aluminum foams were manufactured by a sponge replication technique having a total porosity of ~90%. The influence of the thermal processing conditions such as atmosphere and temperature on the cellular structure, phase composition porosity, thermal conductivity, and compressive strength of the foams was studied. It was found that the thermal processing of aluminum foams in Ar at temperatures up to 800 ◦C led to aluminum foams with a reduced strut porosity, a lower amount of aluminum oxide, a higher thermal conductivity, and a higher compression strength, compared to foams thermally processed in air. These results were explained by the lower amount of aluminum oxide after thermal processing of the foams.DFG-Publikationsfonds 201

Reticulated ceramic foams from alumina‐chromia solid solutions: A feasibility study

Open cellular ceramic foams were manufactured from plain and chromia- doped alumina, with a chromium concentration ranging between 1.25 mol% and 5.0 mol%. The (AlCr)2O3 starting powders were prepared by precipitation of a chromia precursor onto the surface of an alumina powder and subsequent calcination. Characterization of the starting powders as well as the foam samples made therefrom were carried out with respect to the chromium concentration in the alumina phase and the influence of the dopant on the cellular structure and sintering behavior of the doped material. While no positive effect on the compressive strength of the ceramic foams was found, the dopant influences the sintering behavior resulting in an increased shrinkage and in a reduction of total porosity.Projekt DEAL 202

Refitting of Zirconia Toughening into Open-Cellular Alumina Foams by Infiltration with Zirconyl Nitrate

The present work describes the combination of the well-established dispersion infiltration of the hollow struts in reticulated porous ceramics (RPCs) and the salt solution infiltration of the remaining strut porosity. This approach is applied on alumina foams, which are loaded subsequently with a dispersion of sub-micrometer alumina particles and a ZrO(NO3)2 solution. The zirconyl nitrate is converted into a ZrO2 transformation toughening phase during the final sintering step. As a consequence of the complex microstructure evolution during the consecutive infiltration cycles, the reinforcement phase concentrates selectively at the weak spots of RPC structures—namely, the hollow strut cavities and longitudinal cracks along the struts. As a consequence, a severe improvement of the compressive strength is observed: The average compressive strength, normalized to a porosity of 91.6 vol.%, is 1.47 MPa for the Al2O3/ZrO2 infiltrated foams, which is an improvement by 40% with respect to alumina-only loaded foams (1.05 MPa) or by 206% compared to uninfiltrated alumina RPCs (0.48 MPa). The compressive strength results are correlated to infiltration parameters and the properties of the infiltration fluids, for example the rheological behavior and the size of the Zr solute species in the respective ZrO(NO3)2 solution

Alloying effects in Mo-5X (X=Zr, Ti,V) – Microstructural modifications and mechanical properties

The microstructures and mechanical properties of three different cast Mo-5X (X = Zr, Ti, V) alloys were investigated. The alloys Mo-5Ti and Mo-5V show a single-phase solid solution microstructure, whereas the Mo-5Zr alloy exhibits polycrystalline Mo2Zr phases embedded in the Mo(Zr) solid solution matrix. Microhardness measurements were carried out by the Vickers indentation method. Compared to the single-phase solid solution alloys the Mo2Zr precipitations in Mo-5Zr result in the highest microhardness. Based on a well-known solid solution model it was shown that Zr, Ti and V are effective solid solution strengtheners. Additionally, constant displacement tests in the compressive mode between room temperature and 1100 °C confirm these findings. However, the homogeneously distributed Mo2Zr phases offer an extraordinary potential to improve the high temperature strength of Mo-based alloys

Density Reduction of Mo-Si-B Alloys by Vanadium Alloying

Potential Mo-V-Si-B materials with ~ 17% reduced density compared with the reference alloy Mo-9Si-8B have been developed. V was found to be soluble in all three phases within the Moss-Mo3Si-Mo5SiB2 triangle. Due to a high phase fraction of Moss phase and its homogeneous distribution, reasonable fracture toughness of 13.3 MPa√m is achieved. On the other hand, the creep resistance was reduced by V alloying, while the normalized creep strength of the novel alloy shows good potential as a lightweight version of this class of material for use in structural applications