Deformation and Plateau Region of Functionally Graded Aluminum Foam by Amount Combinations of Added Blowing Agent

• Main Authors: Yoshihiko Hangai, Takao Utsunomiya, Osamu Kuwazuru, Soichiro Kitahara, Nobuhiro Yoshikawa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-10-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: cellular materials; functionally graded materials; friction stir processing; pore structure; porosity; aluminum alloy die casting; foam
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/8/10/5366

Recently, to further improve the performance of aluminum foam, functionally graded (FG) aluminum foams, whose pore structure varies with their position, have been developed. In this study, three types of FG aluminum foam of aluminum alloy die casting ADC12 with combinations of two different amounts of added blowing agent titanium(II) hydride (TiH2) powder were fabricated by a friction stir welding (FSW) route precursor foaming method. The combinations of 1.0–0 mass %, 0.4–0 mass %, and 0.2–0 mass % TiH2 were selected as the amounts of TiH2 relative to the mass of the volume stirred by FSW. The static compression tests of the fabricated FG aluminum foams were carried out. The deformation and fracture of FG aluminum foams fundamentally started in the high-porosity (with TiH2 addition) layer and shifted to the low-porosity (without TiH2 addition) layer. The first and second plateau regions in the relationship between compressive stress and strain independently appeared with the occurrence of deformations and fractures in the high- and low-porosity layers. It was shown that FG aluminum foams, whose plateau region varies in steps by the combination of amounts of added TiH2 (i.e., the combination of pore structures), can be fabricated.