Mechanical behavior of pure Al and Al–Mg syntactic foam composites containing glass cenospheres

Abstract Glass cenospheres were used as space holders for making aluminum matrix syntactic foams by pressure infiltration technique. The mechanical properties and failure behavior of cenospheres/Al syntactic foams with pure Al and Al–Mg alloys were investigated in the present work. The failure behavior of cenospheres in two syntactic foams was similar. However, the mechanical behavior of these two syntactic foams was different. Under compression process, the cenospheres/pure Al showed discontinuous shear band and drum shape, while cenospheres/Al–Mg exhibited continuous shear band and was divided by main shear zone. At the tensile state, the cenospheres in pure Al matrix syntactic foam debonded from the matrix, while the cenospheres in Al–Mg matrix syntactic foam was well-bonded and appeared to lamellar tearing. It is suggested that the difference of mechanical deformation behavior could be attributed to the matrix ductility and the forming of interfacial reaction product MgAl 2 O 4 coatings.