Journal of Advanced Materials in Engineering (Esteghlal)

In this study, aluminium composite foams reinforced by different volume fractions of SiC particles as reinforcement and stabilizing agent were fabricated with the direct foaming route of melt using different contents of CaCO₃ as foaming agent. The density of produced foams were measured to be from 0.38 to 0.68 g/cm³. The microstructural features and compressive properties of the AA356/SiC_p composite foams were investigated. The relation between plateau stress, density and, weight percentage of CaCO₃ and SiC_p volume fraction with a given particle size was also investigated. The results showed that compressive stress-strain curves of the products were not smooth and exhibit some serrations. Also, it was shown that in the same density of composite foams, the plateau stress of the composite foams increases with increasing volume fraction of SiC particles and decreasing weight percentage of CaCO₃.