Experimental studies on the yield behavior of ductile and brittle aluminum foams

Specimen size effects are a major cause of the unreliability of foam models in finite element codes. Here, the modified Arcan apparatus is used to investigate the biaxial yielding of ductile and brittle Al foams. This apparatus subjects a central section of a “butterfly-shaped” specimen to a uniform state of plane stress. The stresses have local maxima at the central section, thus ensuring that yielding occurs there. A yield envelope, which directly relates to the crushing process, can then be determined. Size effects are introduced when using conventional methods such as tri-axial or plate-shear tests. In such tests, averages of stress and strain are measured. These measures do not represent the actual yield event, because foam's internal structure is inhomogeneous and so is the deformation field. Strain localization and failure can occur at any weak layer of cells in the bulk. In this study, we have performed a series of biaxial tests on isotropic Alporas and anisotropic Hydro closed-cell Al foams of approximately equal densities. Alporas failed locally by a ductile phenomenon of progressive crushing of cells. It also possessed uniaxial strength asymmetry. Hydro specimens parallel and perpendicular to ‘foam rise’ were investigated. The Hydro foam developed a local, characteristic brittle crack at loads in the vicinity of the yield point. Phenomenological yield surfaces, which incorporate these features are obtained for the foams, and show dependence on both the deviatoric and hydrostatic stresses. We also provide expressions for the shear and hydrostatic strengths in terms of the uniaxial strengths. Finally, the size-independence of the yield surface is verified using the uniaxial compression of tapered specimens.