Influence of Compaction Conditions on the Foamability of AlSi8Mg4 Alloy

Aluminum AlSi8Mg4 alloy foams were produced by the powder compact foaming route using different parameters for the uniaxial powder compaction step. Compaction time, pressure, and temperature were varied and were found to influence both the density of the foamable precursor and the peak expansion reached during foaming. While peak expansion cannot be related to any single pressing parameter alone in a simple way, a clear dependence of expansion on the precursor density was found. Densification to a relative density between 97.5 and 99 pct yielded volume expansions of the foam up to 880 pct. Lower densities result in weaker foaming, due to insufficient encapsulation of the blowing agent; in addition, we were surprised to find that higher densification also has an adverse effect on peak expansion, most likely due to the elimination of nucleation centers or the effect of entrapped compressed air. Precursor microstructures were analyzed to identify the mechanisms leading to the observed density dependence of expansion.