Modelling and effective properties prediction of metal foams

Abstract

This work focuses on finding methodologies to describe the effective elastic properties of metal foams. For this purpose, numerical methods and analytical models, were used. Kelvin cells and Weaire–Phelan structures were modelled to represent both open and closed-cell representative unit-cells. These unit-cells were then subjected to different homogenization methods: (i) Far field methods with single freedom constraints, where it was used two different approaches based on the load case. (ii) Asymptotic Expansion Homogenization (AEH) with periodic boundary conditions. The analytical, numerical and experimental results were then compared. The results indicate that the far field methods gave more precise predictions. However, AEH provides more information on the behaviour of the unit-cells. Using this detailed information, it was possible to perform an anisotropy analysis. Furthermore, contrary to the closed-cells, the open-cell numerical methods and analytical models are within the experimental results range.