Production of carbon coated Al-foams and evaluation of their mechanical response

The feasibility of a cost-efficient method to produce carbon coated Al-foams in a single-step heating process is investigated. In this context, a dissolution-sintering process for manufacturing metal foams is developed using raw cane sugar as both the space holder material and the carbon generating medium. The structural characteristics of the produced carbon coated Al-foams were evaluated by XRD, Raman and SEM analyses. Static compression tests were conducted to determine the mechanical response of the produced carbon coated Al-foams. The produced carbon coated Al-foams were fully covered with an external carbon layer having a relatively uniform thickness, despite the inherent complex 3D surface of the foam. The carbon deposition process led to a significant increase of the compression strength of the Al-foam. A strain softening behavior was observed for the carbon coated Al-foams attributed to micro-cracking of aluminum carbides. The produced carbon coated Al-foams can potentially be used as a catalyst support structure.