On the compressive behaviour of sintered porous coppers with low to medium porosities-Part I: Experimental study

A space holder method in power metallurgy has been used to prepare porous coppers of low to medium porosities with good control of pore size, shape as well as distribution. The compressive properties of the porous coppers have been investigated. While the modulus is found to decrease in terms of porosity, it appears to be insensitive to powder size. The yield strength shows a linear relationship with porosity, and is found to follow a Hall-Petch relationship with powder size. The deformation mechanism of the porous metals has been studied by a displacement controlled uniaxial compression. Results show that under a quasi-static condition, porous coppers with low to medium porosities deform homogeneously throughout the material, behaving more like a solid metal rather than a foam material. This paper focuses on the experimental study of the compressive strength of the porous coppers. Details of the preparation of sample materials and the microstructure study, as well as constitutive modelling are to be presented elsewhere.