Deformation and damping behaviors of foamed Al–Si–SiCp composite

The tensile and compressive as well as damping behaviors of A356/20SiCp composite foams with different porosity and cell sizes, which were produced by a foaming route, have been studied. The tensile stress–strain curves of the composite foams show a quite low fracture elongation, and the compressive stress–strain curves demonstrate three distinct regions, i.e. the linear elastic region, the crushing collapse region and the densification region. The linear elastic region only appears at very low strain (<0.03). In the linear elastic region, the mechanical property (modulus) can be described by the model of Ashby. The compressive stress–strain curves in the crushing collapse region show marked serrations. The A356/SiCp composite foam exhibits characteristics of typical brittle foam. The relative density of the foam exhibits a significant influence on the damping capacity, while its influence on the dynamic modulus of the composite foam is very small.