Fabrication de mousses métalliques à cellules ouvertes ou fermées, par les voies de la fonderie, et applications de ces mousses

During the last two decades, research and development in cellular materials and metallic foams has been quite intensive, leading to a great number of technical papers, proceedings of conferences and scientific books, as wet as a number or European companies offering commercial products. Among the different manufacturing technologies developed for the production of open and closed cell metal foams, the present paper will give an overview of those based on foundry routes, as Well as a more detailed information of the activities performed at INASMET for the production of non- ferrous metal foams by melt processes along the last years. Closed cell metal foams are produced by foaming foamable precursors into moulds, while open pore metal foams are produced through investment casting techniques. The use of close cell metal foams produced in moulds for automotive, aeronautic and space applications for impact energy absorption or noise attenuation, and applications of open pore metallic foams as heat exchangers in industrial devices or cooling in power electronics will be reviewed.