Ultrasound assisted production of metal foam from polyurethane precursor

Asima Zahoor, Abdel Hamid I. Mourad

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Metal foam is a novel class of metals that is inspired by naturally occurring, functionally graded, cellular structures like wood and bones. The properties of metal foam are so diverse that they can be tailored to suit the particular need, hence the study of metal foams has become attractive to researchers and efforts are being made to optimize the methodology to develop the metal foam. Most of the production methods cannot be widely utilized because of difficult process control and high production costs. One of the most economical ways to produce metal foam is adopting conventional electro deposition technique. The electro deposition technique starts from first metalizing the non-conducting polymeric foam and then electrically depositing metal onto this metallized precursor foam with open cells and later the precursor is removed by the sintering process. The main hindrance in this process is that foam being multi layered, a uniform deposition of the metal in the inner layers of the foam was not achieved. After sintering it was found that the foam sample turned out hollow at the center, due to lack or very less deposition of the metal. Experiments aiming to overcome this problem of non-uniform deposition of the metal in the inner layers of the precursor were conducted. It was found that mechanical agitation in the form of low frequency ultrasound promoted the uniform electro deposition throughout the metalized multilayered precursor. Finally, desired strength foam was produced.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvanced Materials
Subtitle of host publicationDesign, Processing, Characterization, and Applications
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791885574
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
EventASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: Nov 1 2021Nov 5 2021

Publication series

NameASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
Volume3

Conference

ConferenceASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period11/1/2111/5/21

Keywords

  • Acoustic cavitation
  • Electro-deposition
  • Electroless deposition
  • Polyurethane precursor
  • Production of metal foam
  • Sintering

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering

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