Prediction of the effect of artificial aging heat treatment on the yield strength of an open-cell aluminum foam

The effect of artificial aging on the compression yield strength of an open-cell AA6101 foam is studied using both experimental and modeling approaches. Isothermal calorimetry is used to analyze the precipitation kinetics of the foam. The modeling work combines the established approaches for predicting the yield strength of open-cell metallic foams as a function of the relative density and normalized strength, as well as the age hardening behavior of AA6101 alloy. The foam yield strength is related to the evolution of precipitate content during aging and is modeled for artificial aging at 180 and 220 C. It is shown that the model predictions match very well with the experimentally determined yield strength values. The overall results suggest that the presented analytical and modeling approaches can effectively be used to predict the precipitation hardening behavior and/or optimize processing and properties of AA6101 foams