Cellular ceramics are attracting material solutions for high temperature applications because of their outstanding properties. SiC cellular ceramics in particular withstand harsh environments at high temperatures for long operating times and are particularly resistant to thermal shock. Ceramic foams though, being random fragile structures, comprise properties which are rather scattered and difficult to engineer. This presentation shows how finite element analysis is used to study the effect of morphological features on ceramic foams in respect of their mechanical properties. Mean morphological parameters, obtained by X-ray computed tomography (XCT) on a commercially available SiSiC foam produced by the replica method, were used to generate a set of lattices in which one parameter was varied at a time. Starting from this approach, further work was then dedicated to optimize their properties. Polymeric lattices and foams, in which some characteristics were digitally modified learning from the optimization work were, produced by 3D printing and ceramized via the replica method. Both foams and lattices were then mechanically tested. Results show that some features such as strut shape and cell stretching affect the mechanical behavior of ceramic foams.
Experimental and Numerical Study of Moisture-induced Stress Formation in Hexagonal Glulam Using X-ray Computed Tomography and Finite-element Analysis
