Closed cell ZA27–SiC foam made through stir-casting technique

•Closed cell ZA27–SiC foam is developed through stir-casting technique.•Foams are characterized in terms of micro-architectural characteristics.•Foams are characterized in terms of their mechanical properties.•Developed foam shows mechanical behavior as those observed in aluminum metal foams.•Zinc foam of very high porosity (nearly 94%) can be made using this technique.

Closed cell zinc aluminum alloy (ZA27)–SiC composite foam has been synthesized using conventional stir-casting technique and CaH2 as foaming agent. The synthesized foams are characterized in terms of its micro-architectural characteristics and deformation responses under compressive loading. It is observed that ZA27–SiC foams could be easily foamed without any difficulty. The density of the developed foam ranges from 0.25 gm/cc to 0.45 gm/cc due to the variation of CaH2 percentage. The plateau stress and energy absorption of these foams follow power law relationship with relative density. Wherein, the densification strain follows a linear relationship with the relative density.