On the compressive properties of aluminum and magnesium syntactic foams: Experiment and simulation

The influence of the materials of Al and Mg-based syntactic foams on the compressive behavior was investigated. Two different kinds of foams of cp-Al and cp-Mg in combination with ceramic hollow spheres (Al2O3 or Al2O3/ SiO2/mullite) were manufactured by infiltration technique. A full-scale finite element model was established to explain the experimental results and to explore the effect of matrix and hollow sphere properties up to the peak strain. In this full-scale model, the ceramic hollow spheres' effective elastic and fracture properties were used, determined from compression tests and micromechanical model of single hollow spheres. The finite element model predicted the compression curve with high precision in the investigated deformation range for the highly ductile foams with Al matrix, indicating that fracture becomes the dominant failure mode only near the peak stress. The model of Mg matrix syntactic foams showed that fracture in the early stage of compression did not change the strength of the material; however, it significantly lowered the stiffness in the case of Al2O3 hollow sphere having a diameter of similar to 4 mm and thin (150 mu m) wall. If significant reactions occurred between the matrix and hollow spheres during manufacturing, the model could estimate the formed complex interface's effect on the syntactic foams' strength.

Automated summary

The influence of Al and Mg-based materials on the compressive behavior of syntactic foams was investigated. Different combinations of cp-Al and cp-Mg foams with ceramic hollow spheres (Al2O3 or Al2O3/SiO2/mullite) were manufactured. A finite element model was established to explain the experimental results and explore the effect of matrix and hollow sphere properties. The model accurately predicted the compression curve for highly ductile foams with Al matrix, while fracture in the early stage of compression significantly affected the stiffness of Mg matrix syntactic foams with Al2O3 hollow spheres.