Development of a lightweight, strong and energy-absorbing material that has potential application for the protection of vehicles and occupants against impact and blast, is a difficult challenge facing the materials community. Aluminium matrix syntactic foams will be investigated as a possible core material as part of a multi-layered protection system for military vehicles. Aluminium matrix syntactic foams are composite materials consisting of an aluminium matrix implanted with hollow or porous ceramic particles. This paper investigates the mechanical properties of aluminium matrix syntactic foam with different sizes of ceramic micro-spheres and different grades of aluminium, fabricated by the pressure infiltration method. The static crushing behaviour of the foam was investigated under two test conditions using an Instron 4505 machine. Results are compared and discussed. The dynamic compressive response was investigated using a drop-weight impact test machine. It was found that the particle size of the ceramic micro-spheres and the grade of the aluminium metal have a significant effect on the energy absorption capacity of the material. The compressive strength of the syntactic foam was found to increase with increasing compressive strength of the metal matrix.
Functional aluminium matrix syntactic foams filled with lightweight expanded clay aggregate particles
