Materials Science World Congress

Metal Foams: Materials of low density for high-specific performance applications for coming decades

Metal foams belong to a higher category of lightweight materials, which incorporates a porous structure to respond to various mechanical loads accompanied by lightweight, energy absorption features. These materials are produced by incorporating or approaching gas bubbles to molten metal resulting in a foam structure bearing the approximate properties of metal but reduced density.

Energy absorption is a key important area of application of metal foams. The ability of metal foams to absorb a large amount of energy due to their structure makes them suitable for use in automotive and aerospace industries in impact protection systems and structures that can withstand a crash. Owing to their capacity to experience deformation without compromising their physical configuration, they are vital in increasing car safety and increasing the safety of passengers.

Other properties of metal foams include heat transfer and fire protection apart from energy dissipation capability. These properties make them useful in heat exchangers, fireproofing systems, and other operation temperature systems that require thermal stability. In addition, the metal foams can likewise perform insulating functions where heat cannot pass through but the structure of the material can still be retained, a function that is more and more employed in the construction industry.

Metal foams are also highly valued for sound-absorbing capabilities, thus they are used in engineering applications to reduce noise from equipment, industrial machinery, and vehicles. The porous nature of specific metals or alloys used in preparing the foams makes them good sound insulators, especially in areas that require low noise levels.

Given the trend towards using lightweight, high-strength materials, metal foam is seen as a viable solution to many high-strength load-bearing applications which require low weight. These materials remain important in the current context of breakthrough research in their development making them an essential ingredient for future advanced engineering across the spectrum of industries.