Sandwich Manufacturing with Foam Core and Aluminum Face Sheets – A New Process without Rolling

Abstract

The manufacturing processes for sandwiches made with aluminum or steel sheets are differentiated by their various melting ranges. Sandwiches with aluminum face sheets have recently been produced using to the so-called AFS technology, which includes a rolling process. However, if it is desirable to avoid rolling to reduce costs and allow for quick and flexible responses to the needs of the customer, the manufacturing process must be redesigned.

Implementation of a Design Guideline for Aluminum Foam Sandwich Based on Industrial Demands

“…Different sources of reference are defined for this purpose. Some content is provided directly by aluminum foam sandwich manufacturers or is published in scientific papers or even in reference works (for example Hipke et al, 2007;Gomeringer et al, 2022). Other content has to be prepared independently, for example by manufacturing sample components in one's own workshop or with the help of partners, in order to obtain relevant findings and parameters.…”

“…Thanks to the other advantages of AFS, such as low density, high specific bending stiffness, and good damping properties, this material can be used for a wide range of different applications (Banhart et al, 2019;Drossel et al, 2018;Hommel et al, 2021a). These particularly include crash-relevant components (Banhart et al, 2019), where the high energy absorption capacity of AFS is advantageous, as well as moving components in machine tools (Hohlfeld et al, 2018) and in general transport vehicles (Viehweger and Sviridov, 2015).…”

Deficits in the Application of Aluminum Foam Sandwich: An Industrial Perspective

“…In addition to dispensing with rolling, another advantage is that the extrusion of the foamable material is simple (Hannemann et al, 2018). A particular disadvantage of this method is that the upper face sheet only comes into contact with the foam shortly before the end of the foaming process and that there is thus only a short time to build a strong connection (Hohlfeld et al, 2018). As the panel-shaped material can be further processed using conventional sheet-metal processing methods, three-dimensional structures can be produced through cutting (sawing, milling, laser beam cutting) and joining (welding, gluing, screwing, riveting).…”

“…By heating the aluminum foam above the melting temperature, the hydrogen gases out and the foam structure is formed. There are two common methods for the production of aluminum foam sandwich within the powder metallurgy route, the so-called AFS technology (Banhart and Seeliger, 2012;Baumeister et al, 1994) and the AAS technology (Schuller et al, 2017;Hohlfeld et al, 2018), which are presented in Figure 1. In both cases, the aluminum foam is initially mixed with a blowing agent and compacted to produce a foamable core material.…”

“…These sheets are placed between two face sheets, which are positioned at a certain distance. Finally, the foamable aluminum material between the two aluminum face sheets is foamed to form a sandwich (Hohlfeld et al, 2018). In addition to dispensing with rolling, another advantage is that the extrusion of the foamable material is simple (Hannemann et al, 2018).…”