Fabrication and properties of stainless steel foams for sandwich panels

Open-celled metallic foams with their specific structural properties are attractive candidates for a wide range of applications in the field of catalyst supports, process, and energy technologies. However, the material is so far not introduced as an engineering material and needs to be characterized for the respective applications. The metallic foams, especially in combination with cover plates, have a high potential for applications as light weight and functional materials. In this article, an industrial manufacturing process is described, which allows to produce a wide range of different qualities of foam with a variety of tailored alloys and pore sizes. The foam material can be stacked and co-sintered with top layers to high-strength sandwich structures. The mechanical properties evaluated in shear and compression tests are promising for couple of aircraft applications.