Investigation of Crushing Behavior of Polystyrene Coated Spherical Shaped Aluminum Foams

Abstract

In this study, the crushing behavior of spherically shaped aluminum foam pieces coated with polystyrene anduncoated under compression load was investigated. The spherical shaped aluminum foam parts produced bypowder metallurgy with diameters of 8 mm and 10 mm were coated with polystyrene by the injection moldingprocess. The obtained foam elements were then subject to quasi-static compression tests at room temperature witha constant crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. According to the experimental results, polystyrene coatings increasedthe energy damping capacity of the foams by approximately 115% while increasing the density by about 50%.