Abstract:The compressive behavior, energy absorption and damping capacity of Al-28% Zn alloy foam, Al-10% Mg alloy foam and commercial pure aluminum foam with open cell were investigated. The Al-28 % Zn alloy foam exhibits the typical deformation behavior of brittle foam in static compression, and a much higher energy absorption capacity than the Al-10%Mg alloy foam and pure aluminum foam to the densification strain. Over a large plastic strain range, the energy absorption efficiency of the Al-28 % Zn alloy foam keeps nearly constant and above 80%. The experiments on the internal friction of the three foams are also conducted on a multifunction internal friction apparatus (MFIFA). The Al-28%Zn alloy foam exhibits a high damping capacity which is three to four times larger than those of the pure aluminum foam and Al-28%Mg alloy foam around room temperature. The mechanism for the high damping capacity of the foamed Al-28%Zn alloy may be associated with the viscous sliding at the interface between the soft phase α and the brittle rich Zn phase η in its base metal during vibration.

Key words: damping capacity; compressive behavior; energy absorbing capacity; aluminum foam