Evaluation of modulus of elasticity of composite metal foams by experimental and numerical techniques

The elastic behavior of Al–steel composite metal foams developed by casting technique was characterized by evaluating the modulus of elasticity through compression experiments, constitutive scaling equations and 2D finite element modeling. Experiments showed an elastic modulus of 10–12 GPa for Al–steel composite foams while the scaling laws predicted 3.5 GPa and 30 GPa as the lower and upper bounds of modulus of elasticity respectively. Two-dimensional finite element models of composite foams developed and analyzed assuming perfectly elastic materials, resulted in an elastic modulus of 10 GPa which is in good agreement with the experimental results.