High strain-rate deformation analysis of open-cell aluminium foam

This study investigated the high-strain rate mechanical properties of open-cell aluminium foam M-pore®. While previous research has examined the response of this type of foam under quasi-static and transitional dynamic loading conditions, there is a lack of knowledge about its behaviour under higher strain rates (transitional and shock loading regimes). To address this gap in understanding, cylindrical open-cell foam specimens were tested using a modified Direct Impact Hopkinson Bar (DIHB) apparatus over a wide range of strain rates, up to 93 m/s. The results showed a strong dependency of the foam's behaviour on the loading rate, with increased plateau stress and changes in deformation front formation and propagation at higher strain rates. The internal structure of the specimens was examined using X-ray micro-computed tomography (mCT). The mCT images were used to build simplified 3D numerical models of analysed aluminium foam specimens that were used in computational simulations of their behaviour under all experimentally tested loading regimes using LS-DYNA software. The overall agreement between the experimental and computational results was good enough to validate the built numerical models capable of correctly simulating the mechanical response of analysed aluminium foam at different loading rates.