Numerical investigation of influences of porous density and strain-rate effect on dynamical responses of aluminum foam

The material properties of aluminum foam are investigated numerically with point-based microstructure models. The models are reconstructed conveniently from microstructure images, since the point discretization is straightforward from the image information. Typical three-stage stress–strain curves for aluminum foam are obtained through simulating the compression of the microstructure model with material point method. Influences of the relative density and the strain-rate effect of the bulk material are investigated. Increasing the relative density will increase the plateau stress level and decrease the plateau width of the aluminum foam. Strain-rate effect of the foam material only is obvious when the relative density is high and the bulk material has strain-rate effect.