Production of Stainless Steel 316L Foam with Different Solid Loading

Abstract

Stainless steel foam has been used for various applications due to their advantages over other materials such as high corrosion resistance, easily availability, and low-cost as well as good mechanical properties. In this work, stainless foam was produced by using foam replication method with different solid loading of SS316L i.e 55 wt%, 60 wt%, 65 wt% and 70 wt% SS316L. The samples were sintered in a vacuum furnace at 1250°C. The sample microstructure was characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) while the elemental component was analyzed by using Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). The Archimedes test has been conducted to determine the samples density and porosity. It was found that the best sample is SS316L foam with 65 wt% solid loading with the density and porosity of 1.85 g/cm3 and 76.84% respectively which are similar to the human bone. The sample also has open and interconnected pores.