G. Bertolino

Characterization and Comparative Study of Pseudo-Elastic Cu-Zn-Al Foams Synthesized by Two Different Methods

Low cost Cu-Zn-Al foams present, in specific composition ranges, good pseudoelastic properties associated with interesting damping capacities, which establish these materials as attractive from the point of view of structural applications. These foams are manufactured by infiltration of small SiO2 spheres into the molten alloys. After alloy solidification the SiO2 spheres are removed by immersing the material in a solution of aqueous hydrofluoric acid. In this work, we have investigated the effect of two different foam preparation techniques: inductive and resistive melting. The paper details both the physico-chemical and mechanical characterization of the foams synthesized with the two different methods. The purpose of this study is to determine the quality of each synthesis method in order to identify the best alternative.