Mechanical Behavior of Particulate Aluminium-Epoxy Hybrid Foams Based on Cold-Setting Polymers

Abstract

New types of hybrid foams with cold-setting polymer foam matrix have been developed. These are based on AlSi10 foam granules and a cold-setting epoxy polymer foam phase. The mechanical characteristics of the hybrid foams like stiffness, compressive, and tensile strength were determined using quasi-static compression and tensile tests. Their overall mechanical behavior is compared to APM-(Advanced Pore Morphology)-based hybrid foams comprising similar aluminium foam granules in combination with single component hot setting epoxy foams. While the latter generally outperform the cold-setting variants at their present state of development, the ease of manufacturing in conjunction with promising levels of strength, and stiffness will support future application of the new material.