Effect of strain rate and relative density on compressive deformation behaviour of closed cell aluminum–fly ash composite foam

Compressive deformation behaviour of closed cell aluminum–fly ash composite foam of varying relative densities (0.08–0.13) was studied at varying strain rate (10−2–101 s−1). The plateau stress follows power law relationship with relative density, whereas densification strain is found to be almost invariant to the relative density and strain rate. The strain rate sensitivity calculated in this material, in the used domain of strain rate, was noted to be very low. An empirical relation has been established to correlate plateau stress with relative density and strain rate.