Compressive deformation and energy absorbing characteristic of foamed aluminum

Experiments were carried out to investigate the deformation and energy absorbing characteristics and mechanisms of foamed aluminum (FA) with two different matrices. Some new results were obtained. It is found that, like other cellular solid materials, FA has a stress-strain curve with three distinct regions, i.e., the linear elasticity region, the plastic collapse region or brittle crushing region, and the densification region. The energy absorbing capacity of FA increases by increasing the relative density and the yielding strength. Brittle foam exhibits higher capacity than plastic foam with similar yielding strengths. FA reaches its peak value of energy absorbing efficiency at the strain of about 0.15 to 0.35, depending on the relative density. AlMg10 foam shows higher absorbing capacity and efficiency than Al foam.