Journal
METALS
Volume 11, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/met11101544
Keywords
concentrated solar energy; al foams; powder metallurgy; space holder; porosity
Funding
- Castilla-La Mancha Government (JCCM) - ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) [SBPLY/19/180501/000170]
- University of Castilla-La Mancha [2020-GRIN-28943, 2021-GRIN-31096]
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Porous aluminum foams were successfully fabricated using solar sintering method, with mechanical properties superior to conventional sintering techniques.
Porous aluminum foams were successfully fabricated following the space-holder powder metallurgy method with a solar sintering stage. Al foams with porosities of 50, 60, and 70 vol.% were sintered in a low-cost Fresnel lens. Green parts were prepared using aluminum powder as the main metallic material and saccharose as a soluble space-holder. The dissolution stage was designed for each foam and required longer periods of time, between 8 and 32 h, as the design porosity increased. Brown parts were fully sintered by concentrated solar energy at a lower temperature (500 & DEG;C) and for shorter times (12-20 min) than those required by conventional sintering techniques (640 & DEG;C, similar to 9 h). The evaluation of density and the characterization of pore size and distribution in the sintered foams was carried out. All obtained foams were stable and presented a homogeneously distributed porosity, very close to the design porosity, with differences lower than 2.1 vol.%, and with approximately half being characterized as open porosity. Moreover, the solar sintered foams presented a high quality, and similar or even greater mechanical properties (such as compressive strength and impact energy absorption) than those achieved by conventional techniques. Foams with 50 vol.% of porosity exhibited the best mechanical behavior, in terms of impact-energy absorption (24.42 MJ/m(3)) and compressive strength (27.4 MPa).
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