Manufacturing of open-cell Mg foams by replication process and mechanical properties

•Open-cell Mg foams were successfully fabricated by the replication casting route.•The proposed equipment can be escalated to produce foams of different sizes.•The relative density and the percent porosity can be modified by the pore size.•The mechanical properties of the Mg-foams were evaluated by compression test.•The mechanical properties can be improved by modifying the relative density.

Open-cell pure Mg foams were produced by replication casting process. The preform used was manufactured with spherical particles of NaCl with sizes ranging from (A) 1 mm to (D) 2 mm. It was found that increasing the pore size, the relative density decreased, while the porosity increased, registering a minimum relative density of 0.22 and a maximum percentage porosity of 78% for sample (D) 2 mm. The mechanical properties and energy absorption characteristics were investigated by means of compression test. Under the present experiment conditions, the sample (A) 1 mm with the smaller pore size and the lower percent porosity 67%, showed the highest mechanical properties; Young’s modulus, yield stress, and the high energy absorption capacity. The mechanical properties obtained and the large plateau region could be favorable for scaffold and energy absorbing applications.