A Development of Technology for Making Porous Metal Foams Castings

Metal foams are revolutionary materials that exhibit different attractive characteristics when compared to their solid material counterparts. Cellular structure of these materials provides the tool for the realization of optimal combination of properties. In the past, when a large dense metal contained any kind of pores, it was considered “defect” and therefore unsuitable for engineering purposes. In recent years, a great importance has been attached to a new class of engineering material, known as “Porous metals or metal foams” as a result to their unique mechanical and physical properties. This paper deals with the method of producing porous gray cast iron castings. Experimentation is done and involves the development of a porous gray iron casting, using casting techniques, Box-Behnken Design is applied and density, percentage porosity is found out also radiography, microstructure, SEM analysis, compression and hardness testing is done.