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TS Seminar: Replication Processing of Open-Pore Microcellular Aluminium
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Europe/Zurich
AT Auditorium (CERN)
AT Auditorium
CERN
Description
Highly porous microcellular metallic materials, generally called "metal foams", are the subject of considerable current scientific interest. These materials are novel and intriguing, and are very attractive for several engineering applications. There are various methods available for the production of highly porous metals: most produce "real" foams featuring closed cells while other processes result in "open-cell" foams (or "sponges"), in which pores are all interconnected. The replication process falls in the latter category.
Replication processing involves the infiltration and solidification of a matrix within the open pore space of a preform material that is later leached, thus creating an interconnected network of open pores within the solid infiltrant material. With aluminium the process uses simple table salt (NaCl) as the preform material, making the process inexpensive and environmentally harmless. The process furthermore provides one of the best vehicles for the study of microstructure/property relationships in this class of materials. Indeed, several of the most basic microstructural parameters of microcellular materials can be varied in well-controlled and systematic fashion: the foam relative density, its average pore size (or its pore sizes), the intrinsic properties of the material making the foam, and even to some extent the internal foam microstructure, meaning both the shape of the pores and the inner microstructure of the material making the foam.
The presentation will provide an overview of the current research program in the author's laboratory on this novel class of materials, with emphasis on their processing and on the exploration of the link between microstructural attributes of open-pore microcellular metals and their properties.
Replication processing involves the infiltration and solidification of a matrix within the open pore space of a preform material that is later leached, thus creating an interconnected network of open pores within the solid infiltrant material. With aluminium the process uses simple table salt (NaCl) as the preform material, making the process inexpensive and environmentally harmless. The process furthermore provides one of the best vehicles for the study of microstructure/property relationships in this class of materials. Indeed, several of the most basic microstructural parameters of microcellular materials can be varied in well-controlled and systematic fashion: the foam relative density, its average pore size (or its pore sizes), the intrinsic properties of the material making the foam, and even to some extent the internal foam microstructure, meaning both the shape of the pores and the inner microstructure of the material making the foam.
The presentation will provide an overview of the current research program in the author's laboratory on this novel class of materials, with emphasis on their processing and on the exploration of the link between microstructural attributes of open-pore microcellular metals and their properties.
Organised by
S. Sgobba, E. Tsesmelis / TS
