A2024 alloy foams were fabricated by two methods. In the first method, the melt was thickened by Mg, which acts as an alloying element (melt route). In the second method, the melt was thickened by using primary crystals at a semi-solid temperature with a solid fraction of 20% (semi-solid route). A2024 alloy foams fabricated through the semi-solid route had coarse and uneven pores. This led to slightly brittle fracture of the foams, which resulted in larger energy absorption efficiency than that of the foams fabricated through the melt route. Moreover, A2024 alloy foams fabricated through the semi-solid route had a coarser grain size because of the coarse primary crystals. However, by preventing the decrease in the alloying element Mg, the θ/θ’ phase was suppressed. Additionally, by preventing the precipitation of the S′ phase, the amount of Guinier-Preston-Bagaryatsky (GPB) zone increased. This resulted in a larger plateau stress.

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We investigated pore formation in aluminum foams by controlling primary crystal morphology using three master alloys. The first one was a direct chill cast A2024 (Al-Cu-Mg) alloy (DC-cast alloy). The others were A2024 alloys prepared to possess fine spherical primary crystals. The second alloy was made by applying compressive strain through a Strain-Induced Melt-Activated process alloy (SIMA alloy). The third one was a slope-cast A2024 alloy (slope-cast alloy). Each alloy was heated to either 635 °C (fraction of solid fs = 20%) or 630 °C (fs = 40%). TiH2 powder was added to the alloys as a foaming agent upon heating them to a semi-solid state and they were stirred while being held in the furnace. Subsequently, A2024 alloy foams were obtained via water-cooling. The primary crystals of the DC-cast alloy were coarse and irregular before foaming. After foaming, the size of the primary crystals remained irregular, but also became spherical. The SIMA and slope-cast alloys possessed fine spherical primary crystals before and after foaming. In addition to average-sized pores (macro-pores), small pores were observed inside the cell walls (micro-pores) of each alloy. The formation of macro-pores did not depend on the formation of the primary crystals. Only in the DC-cast alloy did fine micro-pores exist within the primary crystals. The number of micro-pores in the SIMA and slope-cast alloys was one third of that in the DC-cast alloy.

Aluminum alloy foams were fabricated through the melt route using aircraft grade aluminum alloy, the compositions of which were equivalent to A2024 and A7075. It became possible to fabricate aluminum foam by the thickening effect of Al-Cu melt caused by adding Zn and Mg. Porosity increased as the TiH2 decomposition proceeding. After the end of TiH2 decomposition, the pore coarsened. Cell walls of the fabricated aluminum alloy foams and the thickened master alloy were hardened and strengthened by heat treatment. The first peak stress of the fabricated aluminum alloy foams were improved by heat treatment. The compressive strength of fabricated aluminum alloy foams increased with decreasing porosity.

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