A study of fabricating and compressive properties of cellular Al–Si (355.0) foam using TiH2

• Al-Si (355.0) alloy foam has been produced by Alporas method.
• Aluminum foams, due to having light weight structure, have found many applications.
• The effect of energy absorption capacity on percentage porosity has also been studied.
• An important parameter is the hold-temperature of the metal foam made by the melt-foaming.

Al–Si (355.0) alloy foam has been produced by Alporas method (in which foam alloy melts, and titanium hydride is used as a blowing agent). Mechanical behavior such as quasi-static compression (strain–stress curves, energy absorption capacity), also the effects of thermal properties on the macroscopic structure of the produced foam were investigated. In addition, the effect of energy absorption capacity on percentage porosity has also been studied. The research shows that the produced foam with an average cell size and proper distribution has a more mechanical stability compared to the foams with no such characteristics. It was found that yield strength tends to increase from 12.51 MPa for porosity 74.0% to 22.32 MPa for porosity 54.0%. This foam has also been compared with other foams such as Al-pure foam and Mg foam. It can be stated that Al–Si (355.0) foam has a higher yield strength in comparison to Al-pure foam and Mg foam.