THE EFFECT OF POROSITY RATIO ON BONDING STRENGTH IN ADHESIVELY BONDED COMPOSITE ALUMINIUM FOAMS

Abstract

Metal foams are lightweight materials with unique physical and mechanical properties, including high specific strength, stiffness, and energy absorption capacity. These materials are becoming increasingly popular because they can be used in a variety of applications, including crash boxes in the automotive industry, chassis pillars, and structural elements in the aerospace industry, artificial bone and implants in the biomedical industry, and structural elements in the ship and construction industries. Metal foams could be made up of aluminium, titanium, nickel, and several other materials. Ultimately, what kind of material the metal foam should be made up of depends on the field of application. Nowadays aluminium composite foam materials are being used more frequently. This is due to its low density. It is also resistant to corrosion and a low melting point. In this study, the effect of surface porosity ratios of aluminium composite foam material on adhesive bond strength has been examined. The surface porosity ratios of aluminium composite foam materials were examined, and the specimens were divided into five groups based on their surface porosity ratios: those less than 40%, those between 40% and 50%, those between 50% and 60%, those between 60% and 70%, and those greater than 70%. Aluminium composite foam materials with various surface porosity ratios were assembled using the single lap joint method with aluminium blocks by using epoxy adhesive. The bonding strength was then evaluated under a compressive shear load using a modified procedure based on ASTM D905-08. The results indicate that aluminium composite foams with a surface porosity ratio between 40% and 50% tend to exhibit relatively higher adhesive strength compared to other porosity ranges. Aluminium composite foams with a surface porosity ratio exceeding 60% tend to exhibit lower adhesion strength compared to those with lower porosity ratios.