Cost‐Efficient Aluminum Open‐Cell Foams: Manufacture, Characterization, and Heat Transfer Measurements

Abstract

Metal foams may have applications in the field of catalytic supports, but the available manufacturing processes are too expensive for industrial use. The goal of the paper is to investigate and compare alternative cost-efficient manufacturing methods, aimed at producing open-cell aluminum foams for low-temperature catalytic applications. The explored process chains are 1) solid state bonding of stacked thin slices of closed cell foams; 2) the conventional method of sintering and dissolution of aluminum powders with space holder; 3) sintering and dissolution of recycled aluminum turning chips with space holder. The process chains and their main parameters are described in detail. The morphological properties of the produced open-cell foam samples, relevant to catalytic applications (cell size, hydraulic porosity, total porosity, surface to volume ratio), are measured and compared. Finally, their heat transfer properties are experimentally compared. The foams produced by the sintering and dissolution process exhibit the most favorable compromise among the goals of reducing the manufacturing cost, increasing the heat transfer coefficients, controlling the cell morphology.

Continuous Hydrogenation of Monomeric Sugars and Binary Sugar Mixtures on a Ruthenium Catalyst Supported by Carbon-Coated Open-Cell Aluminum Foam

“…12 The heat transfer efficiency is improved significantly by the high conductivity of open-cell foams compared to the ceramic foams. 12,13 Another advantage of metal foams is radial mixing inside their structure compared with honeycomb monoliths. 12 Radial mixing improves the mass and heat transfer characteristics of the foams.…”

“…12,13 Another advantage of metal foams is radial mixing inside their structure compared with honeycomb monoliths. 12 Radial mixing improves the mass and heat transfer characteristics of the foams. 14 Most open-cell foams are made out of copper, aluminum, nickel, or metal alloys.…”

“…The large surface-to-volume ratios in the metal foams make them suitable for catalytic applications . The heat transfer efficiency is improved significantly by the high conductivity of open-cell foams compared to the ceramic foams. , Another advantage of metal foams is radial mixing inside their structure compared with honeycomb monoliths . Radial mixing improves the mass and heat transfer characteristics of the foams .…”

Evolution of porosity and geometrical quality through the ceramic extrusion additive manufacturing process stages

“…Otsu's method iterates among possible threshold values until it finds the threshold where the sum of foreground and background spreads is minimum. The method had already been successfully used by the authors for the measurement of voids inside samples of porous metals [31]; it has been used already for analysis of µ-CT images of 3D printed parts [32].…”

Recent Advances in Structured Catalysts Preparation and Use in Water-Gas Shift Reaction

“…In the recent years, due to a literature lack of engineering correlations related to the heat and mass transfer properties of structured catalysts, an extensive research effort has been made in this topic, aimed to a full comprehension and description of the transport phenomena occurring in their application in catalytic processes [82,83]. Leading to this focus have been the numerous possible theoretical advantages gainable with the application of structured catalysts; indeed, their application represents an interesting opportunity for strongly exothermic or endothermic processes, due to the efficient heat conductive mechanism and optimal interphase mass transfer characteristics of these structures.…”