A Nanoindentation Based Study of Mechanical Properties of Al-Si-Cu-Mg Alloy Foam Cell Wall

나노인덴테이션에 의한 Al-Si-Cu-Mg 합금 폼 셀 벽의 기계적 물성 연구

Nanoindentation technique has been used to measure the mechanical properties of aluminium alloy foam cell walls. Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloy foams of different compositions and different cell morphologies were produced using powder metallurgical method. Cell morphology of the foam was controlled during production by varying foaming time and temperature. Mechanical properties such as hardness and Young's modulus were calculated using two different methods: a continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) and an unloading stiffness measurement (USM) method. Experimental results showed that hardness and Young's modulus of Al-5%(wt.)Si-4%Cu-4%Mg (544 alloy) precursor and foam walls are higher than those of Al-3%Si-2%Cu-2%Mg (322 alloy) precursor and foam walls. It was noticed that mechanical properties of cell wall are different from those of precursor materials.