COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF OPEN CELL AL-SI12-FE FOAM PRODUCED THROUGH SAND CASTING METHOD

In the modern engineering world, the demand for novel materials is always high. The aluminium foam is the one of the widely used material. The researchers are concentrated to prepare the foam material with better cost effectiveness. The low density aluminium foam is produced using sand balls which are arranged in matrix form. The sand balls are made with used mould sand and clay with the ratio of 1:1. The three different sizes of sand balls are prepared with the diameter of 3mm, 5mm and 7mm. The foams are prepared with different pore size of 3-4mm, 5-6mm and 7- 8mm. The percentage of porosity of the aluminium foam is estimated. Also, the foams are tested under compressive load in Universal Testing Machine. The yield and ultimate compressive strength was measured and plotted as a graph. The result revealed that the increasing porosity of the foam resulted in better yield and ultimate compressive strength.