Metals 2011, 1(1), 49-64; doi:10.3390/met1010049
Article

The Manufacture and Characterisation of Aluminium Foams Made by Investment Casting Using Dissolvable Spherical Sodium Chloride Bead Preforms

Apichart Jinnapatemail and Andrew Kennedy* email
Manufacturing Research Division, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 28 September 2011; in revised form: 7 October 2011 / Accepted: 28 October 2011 / Published: 4 November 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Foams)
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Abstract: Open cell Al foams have been made by infiltrating molten Al into preforms made from porous salt spheres. Infiltration has been effected using simple pressure-assisted vacuum investment casting where the maximum infiltration pressure difference was less than 36 psi. The preform and resulting foam density decreased with increasing compaction pressure and the foam density increased with increasing infiltration pressure. For low pressure infiltration, and high density preforms, salt dissolution was rapid due to the porous nature of the salt spheres. Infiltration of molten Al occurred into the beads and, for high density preforms and higher infiltration pressures, the volume of metal in the beads exceeded that in the cell walls, drastically decreasing the NaCl dissolution rate. A simple approach is shown whereby the data from mercury porosimetry can be used to predict the resulting foam density, thereby aiding the design of preform and beads structures.
Keywords: porous metals; aluminium; liquid metal infiltration; porosimetry

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MDPI and ACS Style

Jinnapat, A.; Kennedy, A. The Manufacture and Characterisation of Aluminium Foams Made by Investment Casting Using Dissolvable Spherical Sodium Chloride Bead Preforms. Metals 2011, 1, 49-64.

AMA Style

Jinnapat A, Kennedy A. The Manufacture and Characterisation of Aluminium Foams Made by Investment Casting Using Dissolvable Spherical Sodium Chloride Bead Preforms. Metals. 2011; 1(1):49-64.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jinnapat, Apichart; Kennedy, Andrew. 2011. "The Manufacture and Characterisation of Aluminium Foams Made by Investment Casting Using Dissolvable Spherical Sodium Chloride Bead Preforms." Metals 1, no. 1: 49-64.

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