Impact of the Foamed Aluminum-Filled Structures

Abstract

The carrying capacity and energy absorption characteristic of foamed aluminum (or aluminum foam), fabricated by melt foaming technique, are limited due to the lower strength of aluminum. The typical anti-vibration energy absorbing structures are designed as foamed aluminum-filled or sandwich structures. The deformation and absorption characteristics of foamed aluminum-filled structures subjected to impact loadings are analyzed using experimental and numerical methods in this work. The analysis shows that the steel shell of the combinative structure subjected to dynamic loadings dominates during energy absorption. The energy absorption capacity and initial instability loading increase as impact velocity increase and as increasing shell thickness duo to the interaction between steel shell and aluminum foam. The impact mass within the range of 100kg influences weakly on peak instability loading. Since the steel shell is the dominating part of load capacity and energy absorption, the reasonable design, taking into account of foam density and shell thickness and taking full advantage of interaction between steel shell and aluminum foam, should be adopted to increase the energy absorption characteristic of foam-filled structures.