Experimental and numerical analysis of the compression behavior of aluminum syntactic foams reinforced with alumina hollow particles

In this study, analytical, numerical, and experimental methods are used to investigate the compressive behavior of alumina hollow particles reinforced aluminum matrix syntactic foams (AMSF). The representative volume element (RVE) models are generated for different volume fractions to analyze the elastic and elastio-plastic behavior of AMSFs using the FE solver ABAQUS. The geometric feature of the hollow particles is selected close to the actual physical dimensions. The effective elastic properties are estimated using linear homogenization models. For example, the elastic properties predicted using the Mori-Tanaka model are close to the FE-based RVE model data. Later, the macroscopic response (stress-strain data) is determined using the volume-averaging method proposed in the literature. The stress-strain response of the FE model with a 30% volume fraction has shown close agreement with the experimental data. Further, a parametric study is conducted for different particle wall thicknesses. These FE models have great potential in studying the ceramic hollow particles reinforced metal matrix syntactic foams and developing new porous composites under compression loading using RVE-based models.