Measurement temperature increment of open-celled cellular Zn-22Al-2Cu alloy

Thermo-mechanical properties of cellular materials, "metallic foams" make them very attractive in a variety of engineering applications. During plastic deformation of closedcell metallic foams, part of plastic work is converted into heat. The generated heat increases may be quantified using an infrared camera measuring radiation emitted on the surface of the metallic foam. Experimental tests were carried out under quasi-static loading conditions using Zn-22Al-2Cu (zinalco) foams featuring different pore sizes, and densities between 30% to 50% maintaining constant volume. The goal of this study was to analyse the effect of heat generation during quasistatic compression of metallic foams at constant strain rate. Some conclusions on the mechanical behaviour were obtained in terms of temperature increase, the nominal stress-strain curves and relative density.