Structural Response of Aluminium Foam Sandwich Under Compressive and Tensile Loading

Metal foams have a wide range of established and potential engineering design applications. They can be used in vibration, sound and energy absorbers, thermal insulation, heat exchangers, firewalls, filters, magnetic flux conductors. Moreover, low density of such materials make them very attractive for the cores of sandwich panels. The aim of this study is to measure the tensile and compressive properties of Foaminal® closed cell foams as core material of an aluminium alloy sandwich structure. An investigation is performed on aluminium foam sandwich panels (AFS) under uniaxial static edgewise and flatwise loads in compression and tension. Edgewise compression tests show significant contribution of the foam to the ultimate compressive strength of the panel as long as aluminium skins stay bonded to the core (then local buckling phenomena lead to the failure of the AFS). Edgewise tensile loading is shown to be skin-dependent. Flatwise tests are made for different in-plane dimensions. It is shown an increase in compression flatwise strength for larger specimens. Non - uniform foam density, the presence of large isolated voids and foam imperfection due to the manufacturing process lead to a degradation of stiffness and strength of the AFS