Porosity predication with microstructural method for open-cell aluminum foam

International audienceThe mechanical property of open-cell aluminum foam directly depends on the foam porosity. This paper proposes three representative microstructural models of pores: 6-interface, 8-interface, and 12-interface microstructural models for open-cell aluminum foams, which are manufactured by the infiltration technique. It seems that the foam porosity is independent of the average sizes of particles; in contrast, it's strongly dependent on the arrangements of particles in the pre-forms. The predicted foam porosity, which changes from 0.52 to 0.71, is in accordance with the experimental results. In addition, the 12-interface microstructural model is recommended for the structure of the open-cell aluminum foam; on the contrary, the 6-interface microstructural model hardly appears in the structure of the open-cell aluminum foam. This analysis makes a good base to further the numerical modeling of the mechanical property for open-cell aluminum foam. It also provides a useful study of the mechanism of the foam porosity forming, variation, and some other effects in the manufacturing process