Stainless steel foams made through powder metallurgy route using NH4HCO3 as space holder

316 stainless steel foams of varying relative densities (0.18 to 0.56) using ammonium bi-carbonate as a space holder were made. The foams were sintered at two different temperatures (1100 °C and 1200 °C) in order to see the effect of sintering temperature. The volumetric shrinkages, relative densities, cell wall microstructure and mechanical properties of these foams are examined. The foam sintered at 1100 °C is referred as SSF(A) and that sintered at 1200 °C is referred as SSF(B). The cell and cell wall morphologies, the yield stress and engineering flow stress were found to be varying with the sintering temperatures. Yield stress is higher for SSF(A), but engineering flow stress at a higher strain level is higher for SSF(B). This is because of a greater strain hardening effect, and a cell sinking effect in SSF(B). Overall energy absorption capacity is noted to be more when samples are sintered at 1200 °C.203