Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals

, Volume 65, Issue 6, pp 753–757 | Cite as

Processing and Stability of LM25/SiCP Composite Foams

Technical Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

A simple method of metal foam production is to introduce a blowing agent (e.g. TiH2) into an aluminium melt containing foam stabilisers such as oxides (usually Ca-based) and/or particles (e.g. SiC, Al2O3). In this work, Al/SiC composites (in-house and commercial Duralcan) [both of them with LM25 matrix (Al–7Si–0.3Mg)] containing particles of various sizes and contents were foamed at different temperatures using TiH2. Foamability is characterised through their expansion and collapse. It is observed that high expansions and good quality foams could be obtained upon manipulating SiC particle size and content. However, irrespective of particle size/vol.% combination, significant effect of foaming temperature is noticed on the fundamental stability of the liquid foam until solidification. Both cell size and foam density varied along the ingot height. The distribution of SiCP within the cell wall is random with no preferential segregation to gas/metal interface. The evolution of foam, and the role of SiC on foam stability are discussed based on macro and cell wall microstructural results.

Keywords

Al–Si/SiCP composite Closed cell foam Liquid metal processing Foam collapse 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the Defence Research and Development Organisation for financial assistance and the Director, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory for his encouragement.

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Copyright information

© Indian Institute of Metals 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Defence Metallurgical Research LaboratoryHyderabadIndia

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