New technology for producing porous aluminum

The new technology for porous material producing
The new technology of producing unsinkable material from the aluminum alloy was patented at the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU). Credit: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University

A new technology of producing an unsinkable aluminum alloy was developed at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU). Porosity is produced by the addition of foaming gas into liquid aluminum during re-melting. The porous materials can increase stiffness and sound and heat insulating proprieties, according to the SPbPU's Media-center.

"A high porosity level can be used to decrease the of structural elements, e.g. sheets. The density can be decreased even lower than the density of water. Resulting would be unsinkable. And its usage in shipbuilding will ensure unsinkability even with a leak in the hull," says Oleg Panchenko, deputy head of the Laboratory of Light Materials and Structures SPbPU, one of the inventors.

In many cases, the carrying capacity of thin (1 mm or less) is sufficient for a lot of structures. But material with such thickness sometimes has geometric limitations (the thickness is too small for manipulation) or it can't be joined without deformation. Due to the material's porosity, it is possible to increase the thickness, maintaining the weight while stiffening the structure.

A similar technology has been patented in Japan, but it produces only entirely . Researchers of SPbPU found a way to produce homogeneous and heterogeneous distribution of pores in the material. Because it is made of solid material, it can be either porous if necessary or with nonporous thickening or solid structure. Using this technology, double-layer sandwiches may be produced in which only one side is porous, increased density can be conferred to selected areas for mechanical or welded joints.

The new technology for porous material producing
Researchers produced unsinkable material from the aluminum alloy. Credit: Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University

Provided by Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University

Citation: New technology for producing porous aluminum (2017, July 18) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2017-07-technology-porous-aluminum.html
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