Monotonic and cyclic deformation behaviour of Fe-36Ni (INVAR) syntactic foam

The present paper provides an overview of the mechanical properties of syntactic metal foams based on a Fe-36Ni (INVAR) matrix with different weight fractions of S60HS soda-lime borosilicate glass hollow particles (0 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt%). Similar to conventional metallic foams, syntactic foams show excellent damping and energy-absorption properties, however, at substantially higher compression and tensile strengths values. In spite of the distinguished adjustable properties, syntactic foams are today not commercially being used, mainly due to lack in available material data. Within this study, the syntactic material has been evaluated with a special focus on its compression, tension and fully-reversed fatigue behavior. By means of scanning electron microscopy, the respective fracture surfaces gave evidence of the governing failure mode, mostly fatigue striations and patches of ductile rupture.