Compressive and tensile behaviour of aluminum foams

The uniaxial compressive and tensile modulus and strength of several alumin um foams are compared with models for cellular solids. The open cell foam i s well described by the model. The closed cell foams have moduli and streng ths that fall well below the expected values. The reduced values are the re sult of defects in the cellular microstructure which cause bending rather t han stretching of the cell walls. Measurement and modelling of the curvatur e and corrugations in the cell walls suggests that these two features accou nt for most of the reduction in properties in closed cell foams. (C) 1999 E lsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.