Fabrication, Structure and Property of Copper Foam

Abstract

Copper foams by using CaCl2 as space holder were successfully manufactured by sintering and dissolution process. The porosity ranges from 75% to 91%, and cell size from 0.3mm to 3.0m. The volume fraction of CaCl2 and sintering temperature are the main factors that affect porosity of copper foam. The yield plateau stress of copper foams with porosity between 75.88% and 90.19% is in range of 12.1~1.2MPa. The yield plateau stress decreases with the increase of porosity. The energy absorption per unit volume (W) copper foams with porosity between 75.88% and 90.19% is in range of 6.17~0.63MJ/m3. Under the condition of identical porosity, the absorption energy per unit volume (W) of copper foam is about 43% higher than aluminum foam. The maximum ideal energy absorption efficiency of copper foam is about 0.74, it indicates that the copper foam can be used as a good absorbing material.