Cellular metallic materials such as metal foams, sponge-like metals or complex sintered products are being increasingly considered a solution for problems of lightweight construction, passive safety, sound damping or filtering purposes. A number of companies in Europe, Japan, and North America are producing aluminum foams and even more companies are evaluating possible applications of cellular metals for their purposes. The number of universities and research institutes active in finding new or improving existing manufacturing routes, in characterizing the resulting materials and in modeling process and materials characteristics is still increasing.
展开▼
