Lately we encounter still more new applications of metallic foams, as well as possible methods of their manufacture. These metallic materials have specific properties, such as large rigidity at low density, in some cases high thermal conductivity, capability to absorb energy, etc. The work is focused on the preparation of these materials using conventional casting technology, which ensures rapid and economically feasible method for production of shaped components. In the experimental part we studied conditions of casting of metallic foams with a regular structure made of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. For thus obtained castings we evaluated the achieved microstructure and mechanical properties, which determine the possible use of these materials. The samples were subjected to compression tests, by which we investigated deformation behaviour of selected materials and determined the value of energy absorption.

The presented paper is focused on the study of refining aluminium-alloy melts. The quality of castings is determined by the basic material, i.e., the input material (furnace charge), its subsequent melting and subsequent metallurgical modifications. To allow the profitability of production, low-quality input materials are currently used, which, although they have the required chemical composition, may contain a large amount of impurities, coming not only from the original input materials, but also from their processing. To allow a cost reduction, in addition to rejected castings, the residues of gating and chipping from the machining are used as charge materials in foundries. However, the melt thus prepared is heavily contaminated with gases and inclusions.The aim of the research was, therefore, to verify the use of graphite rotors functioning as degassing units for refining aluminium melts. The experiments were conducted under laboratory and pilot-plant conditions using the plant equipment. The refining efficiency was monitored with respect to the type and shape of the graphite rotor and the refining medium used. The achieved purity of the resulting melt was evaluated to establish the density index and the final cast microstructure.

The aim of this paper is to summarize the possibilities of foundry methods for the production of metallic foams. At present, there are a number of production technologies for this interesting material, to which increasing attention has been paid in recent years. What is unique about metallic foams is the combination of their physical and mechanical properties. As part of our research, we designed and verified four main methods of metallic foam production by the foundry technology, whose products are metallic foam castings with regular and irregular arrangements of internal cavities. All these methods use materials and processes commonly used in conventional foundry technologies. The main idea of the research is to highlight such technologies for the production of metallic foams that could be provided by manufacturing companies without the need to introduce changes in production. Moreover, foundry methods for the production of metallic foams have the unique advantage of being able to produce even complex shaped parts and can thus be competitive compared to today’s established technologies, the output of which is usually only a semi-finished product for further processing. This fact was the main motivation for the research.

Metallic foams are the materials, the research of which is still ongoing, with a broad applicability in many different areas (e.g., automotive industry, building industry, medicine, etc.). These materials have interesting potentials due to a combination of properties, which are, on the one hand, related to their metallic character and, on the other hand, to the porous structure. Since the discovery of porous metallic materials numerous methods of production have been developed. This work deals with the optimization of the foundry method for the manufacture of metallic foams using the evaporable polymeric pattern. This technology was used for the manufacture of metallic foams with an irregular cell structure and with fully open pores. Attention, in the experimental part, is devoted particularly to the chosen moulding material -plaster. We checked the suitably of the proposed procedure of manufacturing a plaster mould, the drying process and the subsequent annealing that significantly influence the final properties of the mould and, therefore, the quality of the resulting casting of the metallic foam. Keywords: metallic foams, casting, irregular cell structure, plaster, annealing Kovinske pene so materiali, ki se {e preiskujejo in imajo {iroko podro~je uporabnosti na razli~nih podro~jih (npr. avtomobilska industrija, gradbena industrija, medicina in podobno). Ti materiali so perspektivni zaradi kombinacije lastnosti, ki imajo po eni strani kovinske lastnosti, po drugi pa porozno strukturo. Od odkritja poroznih kovinskih materialov so se razvile {tevilne metode njihove izdelave. Delo obravnava optimizacijo livarske metode izdelave kovinske pene z uporabo izparljivega polimernega modela. Ta tehnologija je bila uporabljena za izdelavo kovinske pene z nepravilno celi~no strukturo in popolnoma odprtimi porami. V eksperimentalnem delu je pozornost usmerjena v izbiro mavca kot materiala za model. Preverjen je bil predlagani postopek izdelave mav~nega modela, postopka su{enja in`arjenja, ki imajo najve~ji vpliv na kon~ne lastnosti modela in na kvaliteto ulivanja kovinske pene.

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