Deformation and damping behaviors of foamed Al-Si-SiCp composite

The tensile and compressive as well as damping behaviors of A356/20SiC(p) composite foams with different porosity and cell sizes, which were produced by a foaming route, have been studied. The tensile stress-strain curves of the composite foams show a quite low fracture elongation, and the compressive stress-strain curves demonstrate three distinct regions, i.e. the linear elastic region, the crushing collapse region and the densification region. The linear elastic region only arrears at very low strain (< 0.03). In the linear elastic region, the mechanical property (modulus) can be described by the model of Ashby. The compressive stress-strain curves in the crushing collapse region show marked serrations. The A356/SiCp composite foam exhibits characteristics of typical brittle foam. The relative density of the foam exhibits a significant influence on the damping capacity, while its influence on the dynamic modulus of the composite foam is very small. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.