Mechanical behavior improvement of open-pore copper foams synthesized through space holder technique

The use of modern porous materials in different engineering applications necessitates more concentration on open interconnected metallic foams with acceptable mechanical behavior. In this study, open-pore copper foams of different porosity percentages with various pore sizes were synthesized through lost carbonate sintering method and then characterized. The effect of copper mechanical pre-activation treatment on flexural strength of the foams was also investigated. The results showed that foams produced by mechanically activated copper powder (350 rpm, 5 h, BPP of 5) have a higher structural integrity, thus enjoying more enhanced mechanical strength relative to specimens without any pre-activation. This may be due to stronger struts mainly resulting from efficient filling of matrix powder between space holder particles. The response surface methodology was also used to examine the effects of carbonate volume percentage and its particle size on the flexural behavior of mechanically optimized foams. Based on the analysis of variances, it was found that the mechanical properties of the foams would improve as a consequence of porosity reduction, while similar relation also exists as average pore sizes decrease.