Fabrication of AZ91 magnesium alloy foam

The AZ91 magnesium alloy foam with a diameter of 9mm was fabricated by using vacuum melt infiltration and water quenching methods. NaCl salt was used as a placeholder in this investigation. The porosity and density were 0.602 and 0.724 g/cm3 respectively for the AZ91 magnesium foam. The pores were evenly distributed in the material. The plastic strain during compression for the AZ91 magnesium alloy foam is much higher than that of the as-cast AZ91 magnesium alloy fabricated by the same process. The fracture event occurred at low stress during the pores vanishing. Which is the first evidence observed in metal foam materials during compression according to our knowledge.