Fabrication of Copper Open Cell Foam by Electrochemical Deposition Method and Investigation on the Effect of Current Intensity and Plating Solution on the Created Microstructure

Copper foams with open cells are suitable for use in battery electrodes, catalysts, filters, sound insulation, heat and catalytic exchangers due to the unique combination of properties such as high thermal and electrical conductivity and very low density. In the current research, copper foam containing open cells are produced using polyurethane polymer substrate with the help of electroless-electrochemical deposition, combined methods. The effect of various parameters, including the current intensity of the electro-deposition process, the presence of sulfuric acid and various additives in the electrochemical plating solution, on the microstructure of produced open-cell copper foam is investigated. The purity and microstructure of the fabricated foam are analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Mechanical strength of the foams are evealuted with a compression test. The results show that the current intensity in the range of 0.1-0.2 A is suitable for creating a uniform deposit. Moreover, it has been shown that, copper open cell foam with a uniform microstructure can be created by applying 0.1 A current, plating duration of 48 h and with plating solution including; aqueous copper sulfate 65 g/L, sulfuric acid 30 ml/L, phosphoric acid 2 ml/L, dextrin 20 mg/L, thiourea 20 mg/L, potassium chloride 2 g/L and sodium sulfate 25 g/L. Compression test results show that the compressive strength of the foam is about 0.82 MPa, the plateau stress is 0.52 MPa, and the absorption energy is about 0.5 MJ/m3.