An experimental study of the indentation behaviour of Al foam

Abstract

The indentation response of a closed-cell Al foam under the flat-end cylindricalindenter was experimentally investigated. The effects of indenter sizes, relative density ofAl foam andboundary condition on the mechanical and energy absorption characteristics of indentationwere also investigated. Experimentalresults show that the indentation load-displacement response obtained using theflat-end cylindrical indenter is similar to that observed under uniaxialcompression. Cross-sectional views of the indented specimens show that thedeformation is confined only to the region directly under the indenter withvery little lateral spread, and that the indentation deformation of Al foam isnon-uniform. Thetear energy and energy absorbing efficiency of Al foam is not related with theindenter diameter and relative density of Al foam. By increasing the indenterdiameter or decreasing relative density, the indentation hardness is linearly decreased,but the energy absorbing capability linearly increases with an increase in indenterdiameter or an increase in relative density. At a certain indentation depthrange, the difference between rigid foundation and the indentation response ofAl foam under simply supported conditions can be ignored.