Numerical Simulation of Open-Cell Aluminum Foams under Compression

Abstract

The numerical simulation of the compression behavior of open-cell aluminum foams is discussed as a way to extract material property information for laser forming simulation. A bilinear isotropic model was implemented for the alloy base material whereas a parametric approach was used to build the finite element model of the foam structure. Compression tests were performed on commercial foams with different pore size and density, and the results of lower density foam were used for the model validation. Numerical results show a good agreement with experimental data in terms of foam deformation under compression and required loads.

Numerical Simulation of Laser Forming of Aluminum Sponges: Effect of Temperature and Heat Treatments

“…Numerical modeling. In analogy with previous works [6,7] the 3D foam structure was obtained by repeating the same unit cell. As a reference, a commercial foam with 6 mm pore diameter (apparent density of 0.19 g/cm 3 ) was used both for simulations and experimental tests.…”

“…A bilinear isotropic hardening was assumed to simulate the material behavior during plastic deformation. Compression of open-cell aluminum foams was simulated as a way to extract material property information for laser forming simulation [6]. In a further study, flexure on larger specimens was also simulated with a very good agreement with experimental data [7].…”

Numerical Simulation of Laser Bending of Aluminum Foams

“…A bilinear isotropic hardening was assumed to simulate the material behavior during plastic deformation. The numerical simulation of the compression behavior of open-cell aluminum foams was investigated as a way to extract material property information for laser forming simulation [6]. Numerical simulations of laser forming were performed only by using a small portion of the foam so as to reduce computational times.…”