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A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Computation and Simulation on Metals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 17088

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Isabel Duarte

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810–193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: porous and cellular materials; foams; composite and nanocomposite foams; hybrid foams; graded cellular materials; foam-filled structures; manufacturing; physics of metal foaming; geometrical and mechanical characterisation; experimental tests; crashworthiness
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Prof. Dr. Matej Vesenjak

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova ul. 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: porous and cellular materials; foams; geometrical and mechanical characterisation; experimental tests; computer simulations; finite element analysis; crashworthiness
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to the forthcoming Special Issue, “Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals”, in Metals (open-access journal, Impact Factor 2.117, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/metals).

This Special Issue aims to highlight the most recent novelties and developments in the field of cellular metals modelling, synthesis, characterization, and applications. Cellular metals are considered as one of the most versatile lightweight multifunctional materials for engineering applications, and to be perfectly aligned with contemporary society’s growing ecological awareness. They are recyclable and non-flammable, ideal for sustainable and environmentally friendly design. They provide excellent energy absorption and efficiently damp noise and vibration. Furthermore, they withstand high temperatures. Therefore, they are widely used as crash/impact energy absorbers for vehicles (closed-cells) and heat-exchangers (open-cells). Over the last several decades, several cellular metals have been emerging (e.g. composite and nanocomposite foams, 3D printing cellular structures, hollow sphere structures, auxetic foams, hybrid structures). Cellular metals have become one of the most important fields in academia and industry, and could strongly contribute to significant advances in all sectors, especially for building more efficient, ecological, sustainable, comfortable, and safe buildings, cars, trains, furniture, industrial machines, and medical equipment.

Submissions can cover the following topics (but are not limited to them):

Recent advances in novel manufacturing methods of cellular metals;
Design of cellular structures with new or improved performance;
Geometrical characterization;
Determination of physical properties (i.e., thermal, acoustic, mechanical);
Experimental testing, numerical simulations, and analytical methods;
Applications.

We also welcome contributions including review manuscripts in this research field.

Publications will be subjected to the usual conditions set by MDPI, as the publisher of the journal. This includes the peer-review process as well as the Article Processing Charges (APC). Details may be found on the journal’s webpage: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/metals.

Should you need any further information about this Special Issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Prof. Dr. Isabel Duarte
Prof. Dr. Matej Vesenjak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

stochastic and periodic cellular structures
composite and nanocomposite foams
hybrid and syntactic foams
open- and closed-cell foams
auxetic cellular structures
mechanical, acoustic, and thermal properties
fabrication and production
analytical methods, experimental testing, and computational simulations
applications

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 3685 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Production and Functional Properties of Graded Al-Based Syntactic Metal Foams

by Dóra Károly, Zsolt Iklódi, Alexandra Kemény, Domonkos B. Kincses and Imre N. Orbulov

Metals 2022, 12(2), 263; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12020263 - 30 Jan 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2158

Abstract

As cellular materials are gaining more ground in the automotive, airplane, and railway industries, the demand for functionally graded metal foams has appeared. In the case of syntactic metal foams, by changing the distribution of the filler material, the properties of the foams can be precisely adjusted according to the desired area of application. Several kinds of graded aluminum matrix syntactic foams (GMSFs) were fabricated with lightweight expanded clay aggregate particles and ceramic hollow spheres as filler materials. Their mechanical properties were observed by modal analysis and compression tests, supplemented with an accurate density determination by computer tomography measurements. The compressive properties were set up on a large scale by adjusting the density by adding specific amounts of Al particles to the filler. Based on the modal analysis results, simple averaging the density of GMSFs produces an inaccurate result in mode shapes and material parameters, so the varying density distributions should be taken into account. By simply varying the distribution of the filler material, we can modify the effective material properties of metal foams to better fit industrial requirements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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11 pages, 3409 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Manufacturing and Characterization of Tube-Filled ZA27 Metal Foam Heat Exchangers

by Thomas Fiedler, Ryan Moore and Nima Movahedi

Metals 2021, 11(8), 1277; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11081277 - 12 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1930

Abstract

This study investigates the heat transfer performance of a novel ZA27 metal foam heat exchanger. An open-celled metal foam is combined with a thin-walled copper tube in a single-step casting process. The heat transfer between two separated water streams flowing through the copper tube and foam, respectively, is measured and compared to an equivalent shell tube heat exchanger arrangement. Heat transfer enhancement of up to 71% and a heat transfer rate exceeding 30 kW are observed and attributed to the increased surface area of the metallic foam. However, overall performance was limited by the inefficient heat transfer between the internal mass stream and the copper tube. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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10 pages, 5066 KiB

Open AccessArticle

X-ray Radiography Inspection of Pores of Thin Aluminum Foam during Press Forming Immediately after Foaming

by Yoshihiko Hangai, Daisuke Kawato, Masataka Ohashi, Mizuki Ando, Takuya Ogura, Yoshiaki Morisada, Hidetoshi Fujii, Yuichiroh Kamakoshi, Hironao Mitsugi and Kenji Amagai

Metals 2021, 11(8), 1226; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11081226 - 31 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1969

Abstract

Forming aluminum foam to the desired shape while retaining its pore structures is essential for manufacturing aluminum foam products. Recently, a press forming process for aluminum foam that is performed after precursor foaming but before solidification has been proposed. In this study, to track individual pores throughout press forming immediately after foaming, X-ray radiography inspection was applied. A thin precursor was used, and foaming was constrained to the X-ray transmission direction. It was shown that, although some pores coalesced with other pores, the pores did not collapse during press forming. In addition, the porosity of aluminum foam evaluated from X-ray transmission images was constant during press forming. Some pores retained their shape during press forming but their position was changed by the material flow generated by press forming. These results show that by press forming before the solidification of aluminum foam, aluminum foam can be shaped without the collapse of pores. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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16 pages, 33536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compressive Behaviour of Additively Manufactured Periodical Re-Entrant Tetrakaidecahedral Lattices at Low and High Strain-Rates

by Michaela Neuhäuserová, Tomáš Fíla, Petr Koudelka, Jan Falta, Václav Rada, Jan Šleichrt, Petr Zlámal and Ondřej Jiroušek

Metals 2021, 11(8), 1196; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11081196 - 27 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1862

Abstract

Compressive deformation behaviour of additively manufactured lattice structures based on re-entrant tetrakaidecahedral unit-cell geometry were experimentally investigated under quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions. Specimens of four different structures formed by three-dimensional periodical assembly of selected unit-cells were produced by a laser powder bed fusion technique from a powdered austenitic stainless steel SS316L. Quasi-static compression as well as dynamic tests using split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus at two strain-rates were conducted to evaluate the expected strain-rate sensitivity of the fundamental mechanical response of the structures. To evaluate the experiments, particularly the displacement fields of the deforming lattices, optical observation of the specimens using a high-resolution camera (quasi-static loading) and two synchronised high-speed cameras (SHPB experiments) was employed. An in-house digital image correlation algorithm was used in order to evaluate the anticipated auxetic nature of the investigated lattices. It was found that neither of the investigated structures exhibited auxetic behaviour although strain-rate sensitivity of the stress–strain characteristics was clearly identified for the majority of structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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30 pages, 8835 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Aluminium Alloy Foam Modelling and Prediction of Elastic Properties Using X-ray Microcomputed Tomography

by Diogo Heitor, Isabel Duarte and João Dias-de-Oliveira

Metals 2021, 11(6), 925; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11060925 - 06 Jun 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2789

Abstract

X-ray microcomputed tomography has been gaining relevance in the field of cellular materials to characterize materials and analyse their microstructure. So, here, it was used together with finite element modelling to develop numerical models to estimate the effective properties (Young’s modulus) of aluminium alloy foams and evaluate the effects of processing on the results. A manual global thresholding technique using the mass as a quality indicator was used. The models were reconstructed (Marching Cubes 33), then simplified and analysed in terms of mass and shape maintenance (Hausdorff distance algorithm) and face quality. Two simplification procedures were evaluated, with and without small structural imperfections, to evaluate the impact of the procedures on the results. Results demonstrate that the developed procedures are good at minimizing changes in mass and shape of the geometries while providing good face quality, i.e., face aspect ratio. The models are also shown to be able to predict the effective properties of metallic foams in accordance with the findings of other researchers. In addition, the process of obtaining the models and the presence of small structural imperfections were shown to have a great impact on the results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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20 pages, 10219 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vibration Damping and Acoustic Behavior of PU-Filled Non-Stochastic Aluminum Cellular Solids

by Vitor Hugo Carneiro, Hélder Puga and José Meireles

Metals 2021, 11(5), 725; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11050725 - 28 Apr 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2318

Abstract

Aluminum-based cellular solids are promising lightweight structural materials considering their high specific strength and vibration damping, being potential candidates for future railway vehicles with enhanced riding comfort and low fuel consumption. The filling of these lattices with polymer-based (i.e., polyurethane) foams may further improve the overall vibration/noise-damping without significantly increasing their density. This study explores the dynamic (i.e., frequency response) and acoustic properties of unfilled and polyurethane-filled aluminum cellular solids to characterize their behavior and explore their benefits in terms of vibration and noise-damping. It is shown that polyurethane filling can increase the vibration damping and transmission loss, especially if the infiltration process uses flexible foams. Considering sound reflection, however, it is shown that polyurethane filled samples (0.27–0.30 at 300 Hz) tend to display lower values of sound absorption coefficient relatively to unfilled samples (0.75 at 600 Hz), is this attributed to a reduction in overall porosity, tortuosity and flow resistivity. Foam-filled samples (43–44 dB at 700–1200 Hz) were shown to be more suitable to reduce sound transmission rather than reflection than unfilled samples (21 dB at 700 Hz). It was shown that the morphology of these cellular solids might be optimized depending on the desired application: (i) unfilled aluminum cellular solids are appropriate to mitigate internal noises due to their high sound absorption coefficient; and (ii) PU filled cellular solids are appropriate to prevent exterior noises and vibration damping due to their high transmission loss in a wide range of frequencies and vibration damping. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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Review

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28 pages, 10794 KiB

Open AccessReview

Research Progress in the Preparation of Aluminum Foam Composite Structures

by Junshan Zhang, Yukun An and Haoyuan Ma

Metals 2022, 12(12), 2047; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12122047 - 28 Nov 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2742

Abstract

Closed-cell aluminum foam has a porous structure and metal properties due to its unique composition. As a structural material, it has the advantages of being lightweight, having a large specific surface area, and having high specific strength and stiffness. As a functional material, it can be used for sound and noise reduction, heat insulation, electromagnetic shielding, damping, and energy absorption, but it also has poor mechanical properties and poor surface flatness, and can be easily corroded. Considering the abovementioned problems, researchers have gradually extended their research on foam materials. Under the research of many international scholars, studies have shifted from simple aluminum foam preparation to improving and optimizing aluminum foam composite structures (AFCSs). From the perspective of development prospects, AFCSs have better application prospects than single aluminum foam. In this paper, the research progress on the preparation technology of AFCSs in recent years was reviewed based on the performance enhancement mechanism of aluminum matrix composites and the structural characteristics of aluminum foam. The morphology and pore structures of closed-cell AFCSs under different preparation methods were summarized. However, due to the limitations of existing experimental conditions, this paper only considered the advantages and disadvantages of AFCS preparation methods. The improvement of AFCS preparation technology, the development of the potential properties of AFCSs, and the promotion of AFCS industrial applications were also considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Applications in Cellular Metals)

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