Nd-YAG laser assisted aluminum foaming

The present paper is focused on the Nd-YAG laser assisted aluminum foaming from a foamable precursor material. The results show a unidirectional and localized expansion of foam. Closed cell porous aluminum structures with relative density (0.40) and porosity of (60%) are fabricated. It is found that the beam interaction time, (tint=spot size/processing speed), the so called dwell time plays a significant role in the evolution of the cell morphology and the expansion mechanism of foam. Foams produced by this method enlarge the application range of cellular materials such as graded porous structures and offers the possibility of basic investigations of many engineering problems.