Physical Processes in Laser-Assisted Aluminum Foaming

Aluminum foam has become popular in recent years and has the potential to be used in many applications due to its lightweight structure. In this paper, laser-assisted foaming experiments have been performed to fabricate closed cell porous aluminum structures with different relative densities (0.39 to 0.33) and porosities of 61 to 67%. The influence of the processing conditions on the evolution of cell morphology of the foam is investigated. Preliminary results suggest that a pore size gradient and a density gradient exist in the structure as the processing condition changes. The foam has large pores and lower density for slow processing speed, in contrast to the fast processing speed with small pore size but higher density. Additionally, an example of laser-assisted cutting of Al foam is also demonstrated.