Quasi-static compressive behaviour of aluminium cenosphere syntactic foams

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, cenosphere particles embedded in AA2014 aluminium matrix are used to fabricate syntactic foam by stir casting method. The particle size is about 100\u2009µm and foam density is about 1990\u2009kg\u2009m−3. Compression tests at strain rate 0.001/s are performed on foam samples to characterise their mechanical properties which are then used in numerical analysis on commercial finite element analysis software ABAQUS/CAE with isotropic elastic-plastic material model. Experimental and numerical results show good conformity in deformation behaviour with elastic and plateau zones showing average deviations less than 5% and 20%, respectively. Foams showed high yield stress and energy absorption capabilities that can be useful in making blast and impact resistant structures.