Issue 50

I. Papantoniou et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 50 (2019) 497-504; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.50.41 497 Focused on the research activities of the Greek Society of Experimental Mechanics of Materials Metal foaming by powder metallurgy process: investigation of different parameters on the foaming efficiency Ioannis Papantoniou School of Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Technology Section, National Technical University of Athens, Greece ipapanto@central.ntua.gr Helena P. Kyriakopoulou, Dimitrios I. Pantelis School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Shipbuilding Technology Laboratory, National Technical University of Athens, Greece kyriakopoulou.elena.alexia@gmail.com pantelis@central.ntua.gr Dimitrios E. Manolakos School of Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Technology Section, National Technical University of Athens, Greece manolako@central.ntua.gr A BSTRACT . Aluminium foams, produced by powder metallurgy process, have significant potential applications for uses in weight-sensitive structural parts. Problems in the production of metal foams arise from the lack of knowledge in the control of process parameters. The results are frequently uneven and unpredictable variations in the structure and properties of the final foamed parts are observed. This paper aims to investigate the effect of different para- meters of the powder metallurgy with foaming agents process on the foaming efficiency. The parameters examined included the powder morphology, the compaction pressure and the foaming temperature. During the foaming stage, for each set of parameters the porosity-time (P f-t ) diagrams were created and the foaming efficiency was calculated (η=P fmax ). Results indicated that the highest foaming efficiency was observed at the specimens with the fine alu- minium powder, with high (700 MPa) compaction pressure and high foaming temperatures (800 o C). Finally, compression tests were performed on the foamed specimens with the higher foaming efficiency in order to investigate their s-e response. Furthermore, average compressive strength and density were estimated and presented. K EYWORDS . Aluminium foam; Foaming process; Foaming efficiency; Mech- anical properties; Porosity. Citation: Papantoniou, I.G., Kyriakopoulou, H.P., Pantelis, D.I., Manolakos, D.E., Metal foaming by powder metallurgy process: inves- tigation of different parameters on the foaming efficiency, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, xx (2019) 497-504. Received: 17.01.2019 Accepted: 15.05.2019 Published: 01.10.2019 Copyright: © 2019 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.