Research on Application of Foam Aluminum as Structural Material

[China Aluminum Network] Aluminum foam is a new type of lightweight functional-structural integrated material made of aluminum or aluminum alloy matrix and pores, its special structure determines its light Characterized by high quality, high porosity, and high specific surface area, it has many excellent characteristics that dense metals do not have, such as strong energy absorption, impact resistance, high specific strength, electromagnetic shielding, sound absorption, high Damping, low thermal conductivity, low electrical conductivity, etc. The performance of aluminum foam mainly depends on porosity, pore size, through-porosity, pore structure type, specific surface area and other pore structure parameters and metal matrix.

Compared with dense metal materials, aluminum foam can be used as a functional material, but also as a structural material. Usually, it has the dual functions of function and structure, and is durable, easy to recycle, making it available in industry, The military, aerospace and construction fields have great application prospects.

As the application of structural materials, due to the presence of a large number of pores in the interior of foam aluminum, it has become lighter and has higher specific strength characteristics, and therefore it has become an ideal filler material for lightweight composite sandwich panels or sandwich core tubes. Aluminum foam is used as a sandwich composite panel. The filler is not only light in weight, but also has high strength and rigidity. The foamed aluminum filler can effectively improve the deformation mode of the composite plate under static and dynamic loads, so that the bending strength, compressive strength, stiffness and energy absorption performance are all improved. It has been greatly improved. Compared with traditional honeycomb sandwich materials, foam aluminum sandwich materials have higher performance, better formability, and overcome the shortcomings of anisotropic honeycomb sandwich materials. The use of foamed aluminum sandwich materials instead of expensive honeycomb sandwich materials can significantly reduce costs while achieving higher performance. It has been reported in the literature that the quality of some auto parts made of sandwich foam aluminum sandwich materials is only 1/2 of the original steel parts, and its specific rigidity is 10 times that of steel parts, and the thermal insulation insulation performance is 95% higher than that of solid aluminum. Therefore, aluminum foam will become an important automotive material, creating more favorable conditions for the development of the automotive industry. In the aerospace field, Boeing has been trying to make tailstocks of helicopters from foamed titanium and foamed aluminum sandwich materials. This sandwich material can be made into curved or even three-dimensional shapes, making it very good in aerospace technology. Application prospects. In the construction industry, foamed aluminum or other foamed metal can be made into light, hard, fire-resistant components, railings or supports, such as the acceleration and deceleration of modern elevators at high frequencies and high speeds, and in particular lightweight foams with both energy absorption and load carrying characteristics. Metal materials to reduce energy consumption.

In addition to the above-mentioned special properties, aluminum foam also has excellent performance characteristics such as corrosion resistance, moisture resistance, and aging resistance. Therefore, foam aluminum can be used not only in a conventional environment but also in open environments, high temperatures, and humid environments.

Aluminum foam has excellent performance and a wide range of applications. It has good prospects for application and development in industries such as industry, aerospace, environmental protection, and construction. At present, the research on the application of foam aluminum in foreign countries is quite mature, and it has achieved large-scale application in many industries. At present, the preparation technology of foam aluminum in China is relatively mature, but it lags behind in the field of applied research, especially in the application of structural materials is still in the laboratory research stage. Therefore, China's foam aluminum R & D personnel should strengthen the application of basic research on foam aluminum materials in the future, and strive to promote its industrial production and application promotion.