Foaming behavior of Ti6Al4V particle-added aluminum powder compacts

The foaming behavior of 5 wt.% Ti6Al4V (Ti64) particle (30–200 μm)-added Al powder compacts was investigated in order to assess the particle-addition effects on the foaming behavior. Al compacts without particle addition were also prepared with the same method and foamed. The expansions of Ti64 particle-added compacts were measured to be relatively low at small particle sizes and increased with increasing particle size. At highest particle size range (160–200 μm), particle-added compacts showed expansion behavior similar to that of Al compacts without particle addition, but with lower expansion values. Expansions studies on 30–45 μm size Ti64-added compacts with varying weight percentages showed that the expansion behavior of the compacts became very similar to that of Al compact when the particle content was lower than 2 wt.%. However, Ti64 addition reduced the extent of drainage. Ti64 particles and TiAl₃ particles formed during foaming increased the apparent viscosity of the liquid foam and hence reduced the flow of liquid metal from cell walls to plateau borders. The reduced foamability in the compacts with the smaller size Ti64 addition was attributed to the relatively high viscosities, due to the higher cumulative surface area of the particles and higher rate of TiAl₃ formation between liquid Al and Ti64 particles.