Development and characterization of in-situ sandwich panels with aluminum alloy foam core

Abstract

The aluminum alloy foams have been explored to be used in energy absorption applications that require lightweight structures with high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios, high impact energy absorbing capacity, and good damping of noise and vibration. The metal foams are usually applied as core and/or as filler of sandwich panels and thin-walled structures. The purpose of this paper is to develop in-situ sandwich panels consisting of a highly porous aluminum foam core and aluminum alloy face sheets manufactured by the powder metallurgy method in which the face sheets are bonded to the foam core during the foam formation. The samples are geometrically analyzed in 2D and 3D using X-ray microcomputed tomography to extract morphological and topological properties of the foam core, the face sheets, and the bonding between them. The mechanical and acoustic properties of in-situ sandwich panels are evaluated.