Effects of viscosity control on microporosity in the fabrication process of aluminium foam material by a rheology forming process

Abstract

Aluminium foam is an ultra-light-weight porous material consisting of aluminium and large quantities of pores. In this study, aluminium foams having a closed-cell structure were fabricated by the melt-stirring method and induction heating process. ADC12 aluminium alloy billet and TiH₂ powder (1 wt %) were used as the matrix alloy and the foaming agent respectively. In order to establish the aluminium foam fabrication conditions, the effect of the process parameters such as heating temperatures (585, 595, 615 and 680 °C), heating rates (20, 30, 40 and 50 °C/min), stirring speeds (700, 1000, 1350 and 1750 r/min) and reheating temperatures (595, 605, 625 and 680 °C) on the pore morphology were investigated. For fabricated ADC12 aluminium foam samples, the size and shape of the pores in accordance with the process parameters were investigated quantitatively.

Keywords

closed-cell aluminium foam melt-stirring technique induction heating pore morphology

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