Stabilized Metal Foam Body

Methods and apparatus for performing the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a first form of apparatus for carrying out the process of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a second apparatus for carrying out the invention;

FIG. 3 is a plot showing the particle size and volume fraction range over which foam can be easily produced,

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a detail of foam cell walls produced by the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a third type of foam forming apparatus.

A preferred apparatus of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 includes a heat resistant vessel having a bottom wall 10, a first end wall 11, a second end wall 12 and side walls (not shown). The end wall 12 includes an overflow spout 13. A divider wall 14 also extends across between the side walls to form a foaming chamber located between wall 14 and overflow spout 13. A rotatable air injection shaft 15 extends down into the vessel at an angle, preferably of 30-45.degree. to the horizontal, and can be rotated by a motor (not shown). This air injection shaft 15 includes a hollow core 16 and an impeller 17 at the lower end of the shaft. Air is carried down the hollow shaft and is discharged through nozzles 18, incorporated in the impeller blades, into the molten metal composite 20 contained in the vessel. Air bubbles 21 are produced at the outlet of each nozzle and these bubbles float to the surface of the composite in the foaming chamber to produce a closed cell foam 22.

This closed cell foam in the above manner continuously forms and flows out of the foaming chamber over the foam spout 13. Additional molten metal composite 19 can be added to the chamber either continuously or periodically as required to replenish the level of the composite in the chamber. In this manner, the system is capable of operating continuously.

The cell size of the foam being formed is controlled by adjusting the air flow rate, the number of nozzles, the nozzle size, the nozzle shape and the impeller rotational speed.

The system shown in FIG. 2 is designed to produce an aluminum foam slab with a smooth-as-cast bottom surface. This includes the same foam forming system as described in FIG. 1, but has connected thereto adjacent the foam spout 13 an upwardly inclined casting table 25 on which is carried a flexible, heat resistant belt 26, preferably made of glass cloth or metal. This belt 26 is advanced by means of pulley 27 and picks up the foamed metal exiting over the foam spout 13. The speed of travel of the belt 26 is controlled to maintain a constant foam slab thickness.

If desired, the slab may also be provided with a smooth-as-cast top surface by providing a top constraining surface during casting of the slab.

In the system shown in FIG. 5, the bubble forming by way of a vortex. A crucible 35 contains a rotatable 32 cm and the impeller is rectangular, measuring about 76 mm.times.127 mm.

In operation, the molten metal composite is filled to the level 38. The impeller is rotated at high speed to form a vortex 39. When a blanket of gas is provided on the surface of the melt vortex, the gas is slowly drawn into the melt to eventually form foam. The foam continues to form and fills the crucible above the melt.

Using the system described in FIG. 1, about 32 kg. of aluminum alloy A356 containing 15 vol. % SiC particulate was melted in a crucible furnace and kept at 750.degree. C. The molten composite was poured into the foaming apparatus of FIG. 1 and when the molten metal level was about 5 cm below the foam spout, the air injection shaft was rotated and compressed air was introduced into the melt. The shaft rotation was varied in the range of 0-1,000 RPM and the air pressure was controlled in the range 14-103 kPa. The melt temperature was 710.degree. C. at the start and 650.degree. C. at the end of the run. A layer of foam started to build up on the melt surface and overflowed over the foam spout. The operation was continued for 20 minutes by filling the apparatus continuously with molten composite. The foam produced was collected in a vessel and solidified in air. It was found that during air cooling, virtually no cells collapsed.

Examination of the product showed that the pore size was uniform throughout the foam body. A schematic illustration of a cut through a typical cell wall is shown in FIG. 4 with a metal matrix 30 and a plurality of stabilizer particles 31 concentrated along the cell faces. Typical properties of the foams obtained are shown in Table 1 below:

This test utilized the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 and the composite used was aluminum alloy A356 containing 10 vol.% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. The metal was maintained at a temperature of 650.degree.-700.degree. C. and the air injector was rotated at a speed of 1,000 RPM. Foam overflow was then collected on a moving glass-cloth strip. The glass cloth was moved at a casting speed of 3 cm/sec.

A slab of approximately rectangular cross-section (8 cm.times.20 cm) was made. A solid bottom layer having a thickness of about 1-2 mm was formed in the foam.

Using the crucible of FIG. 5, A356 aluminum alloy was melted and 15% by volume of silicon carbide powder was added thereto The crucible was then evacuated and an atmosphere of argon was provided on the surface of the melt.

With the molten metal composite at a temperature of 650.degree.-700.degree. C., the impeller was rotated at 1100 rpm. After 10 minutes of mixing, the composite melt started to foam. When the foam reached the top of the crucible, the impeller was stopped and samples of the foam were collected.

The foam obtained was found to have cells which were very small, spherical-shaped and quite evenly distributed. The bulk density of the foam was in the range of 1-1.5 g/cc, with an average cell size of about 250 .mu.m and an average cell wall thickness of 100 .mu.m.