Compressive characteristics of metal matrix syntactic foams

Abstract

The compressive behaviour of eight different metal matrix syntactic foams (MMSFs) are investigated and presented. The results showed that the engineering factors as chemical compositions of the matrix material, the size of the microballoons, the previously applied heat treatment and the temperature of the compression tests have significant effects on the compressive properties. The smaller microballoons with thinner wall ensured higher compressive strength due to their more flawless microstructure and better mechanical stability. According to the heat treatments, the T6 treatments were less effective than expected; the parameters of the treatment should be further optimized. The elevated temperature tests revealed ~30% drop in the compressive strength. However, the strength remained high enough for structural applications; therefore MMSFs are good choices for light structural parts working at elevated or room temperature. The chemical composition -microballoon type -heat treatment combinations give good potential for tailoring the compressive characteristics of MMSFs.

Compressive behaviour of aluminium matrix syntactic foams reinforced by iron hollow spheres

“…Compared to the MMSFs with ceramic spheres, there was no crack plane and the specimens had plastic deformation in all cases [76,77]. This observation is supported by the metallographic examinations of compressed specimens, shown in Fig.…”

“…4 (the initial part of the curve is magnified in the inset figure). Compared to the typical graphs of ceramic hollow sphere reinforced MMSFs, the curve shows some significant difference [76][77][78][79][80]. Most importantly the curve does not have any local maximum, therefore expressed compressive strength cannot be defined.…”

X‐Ray Microtomographic Characterization and Quantification of the Strain Rate Dependent Failure Mechanism in Cenosphere Epoxy Syntactic Foams

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The characteristics of cenosphere fillers such as the volume fraction and the size have the impact on the low rate behavior of the foam. [4,[8][9][10][11] The mechanical behavior is also significantly affected by the applied strain rate. Recently, more research efforts have been made to explore the high strain rate response of the foam.…”

Computer tomography based reconstruction of metal matrix syntactic foams

“…The most important properties of the metal matrix syntactic foams are the compressive strength and the absorbed energy [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…In these porous materials the porosity is ensured by incorporating ceramic hollow microspheres [1]. The microspheres are commercially available and they contain mainly various oxide ceramics [2,3].The most important properties of the metal matrix syntactic foams are the compressive strength and the absorbed energy [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].The quality and chemical composition of the microspheres influence many properties of the syntactic foams. And they have also strong influence during the production of the syntactic foams.…”