The Influence of Temperature on Stability of Aluminum Foam Cell Wall during Foaming Process

Mechanical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

Abstract

This study concerns about the influence of foaming temperature which is applied to foaming process of aluminum foam to improve the stability of aluminum foam cell wall. Powder metallurgical method with four major foaming temperatures of 750°C, 800°C, 850°C and 900°C have been selected. Furthermore, the porosity of the foam was determined by ImageJ Analysis Software. Microhardness testing on the cell wall of aluminium foam was conducted according to ASTM E 92 using microhardness tester LM24AT with 200 grams and 15 s for loading time. The universal testing machine was applied to characterize the effect of foaming temperature on compression strength. The aluminum foam was observed in macroscopic and microscopic level using optical microscope (OM). The result revealed that the foaming temperature of 800°C gave the lowest value of porosity, with the highest hardness and compressive strength of 55.29 HV and 1.41 MPa, respectively. In addition, the highest porosity level was acquired by foaming temperature which was set at 900 °C. The lowest hardness value of 38.50 HV was obtained by foaming temperature of 700°C and the minimum compressive strength value of 0.75 MPa was exhibited when the foaming temperature was set at 900°C.