On the effect of infiltration pressure on structural and mechanical
properties of EP/A356 Al syntactic foam
M. Taherishargh*, I.V. Belova, G.E. Murch, T. Fiedler
Centre for Mass and Thermal Transport in Engineering Materials, Discipline of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308, Australia
Abstract
The effects of infiltration pressure on density, microstructural and mechanical properties
of expanded perlite (EP)/A356 aluminium syntactic foam were investigated. Defective cell
structure due to incomplete infiltration of gaps between EP particles at a pressure of 0.02
MPa causes low density and poor mechanical properties. At 0.04 MPa infiltration pressure,
improved infiltration of EP particles results in a distinct increase in density and mechanical
properties of the foams. Upon further increase in pressure (0.06 MPa), the density only
slightly increases due to limited penetration of the melt into the surface pores of EP particles
while mechanical properties remain almost identical. Accordingly, there is an optimum
infiltration pressure at which the ratio of mechanical properties to density is the highest.
Keywords: metallic syntactic foams; mechanical properties; SEM; infiltration; deformation.
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: Mehdi.Taherishargh@uon.edu.au. Ph: +61 (02) 49216198