Abstract:

This paper investigates the deformation characteristics of cuboid aluminum foam under quasi -static com-pression.In the investigation , the variation of the current relative density , the porosity distribution and porosity va-riation in the vertical section were all analyzed by means of digital-image processing technology. Some data-proce-ssing methods were also adopted to quantify the image information. Thus , stable current relative density was ob-tained, which is in good agreement with the results in previous studies. The results show that (1) the porosity in each part of the vertical section decreases with the increase of strain during the compression; (2) the deformation occurs in the whole specimen; (3) due to the restriction from the loading plates , the porosity is of an uneven varia-tion in the whole vertical section; specifically , the porosity variation rate of the parts near the two ends is lower than that of the middle parts; and (4) with the increase of strain , the variation rate of porosity becomes even in the whole vertical section.

Key words: aluminum foam, digital image, current relative density, porosity distribution, deformation