Metal Foam Stack Bonding for Thickness Control and Porosity Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manufacturing metal foam stacks often result in structural destruction and difficulty in achieving a desired thickness due to contraction issues during the lamination and sintering process.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of metal powder or brazing foil as bonding members, combined with external pressure and heat treatment, to minimize structural destruction and control the thickness of the metal foam stack, where the bonding members include alloys like nickel, chrome, or molybdenum, and the heat treatment involves debinding and sintering at specific temperatures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If metal foam sheets are simply laminated and sintered, then the manufacturing process is simple, but serious contraction occurs in the center and lateral portions causing structural destruction
Solution Approach 1:
A porous plate is introduced as an intermediary component between the metal foam sheets during sintering. This porous plate acts as a spacer that prevents direct contact between the metal foam sheets, thereby preventing contraction and distortion in the center and lateral portions while maintaining manufacturing simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The porous plate is a temporary, disposable component used only during the sintering process. After serving its purpose as a spacer to prevent contraction, it is removed, leaving no residual impact on the final product structure. This allows for simple process implementation without complex reusable fixtures.
2Strength
If external pressure and heat treatment are applied to bond metal foam sheets, then bonding strength is improved, but the porous structure may be destroyed
Solution Approach 1:
The porous plate serves as a mediator that distributes the external pressure uniformly across the metal foam sheets during sintering. This prevents localized excessive pressure that could collapse the porous structure, while still enabling sufficient bonding strength through controlled pressure and temperature application.
Solution Approach 2:
The sintering process parameters (temperature, pressure, time) are carefully controlled and optimized to achieve bonding strength without exceeding the threshold that would damage the porous structure. The porous plate enables this by providing a controlled interface for pressure application.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for the production of high-quality metal foam stacks with minimized structural destruction and controlled thickness, achieving enhanced bonding strength and maintaining the porous structure.
Implementation Method 1
a heat treatment for heating the metal foam stack
Implementation Method 2
the performing of the heat treatment may include: performing debinding of removing a binder ingredient from the metal foam stack; and sintering the metal foam stack
Implementation Method 3
an operation of applying external pressure to the metal foam stack
Implementation Method 4
a heat treatment for heating the metal foam stack
Implementation Method 5
the performing of the heat treatment may include: performing debinding of removing a binder ingredient from the metal foam stack; and sintering the metal foam stack
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
Provided are a metal foam stack and a manufacturing method thereof. The metal foam stack includes one or more stack units. The stack unit includes: a first metal foam sheet including an open cell, in which a plurality of internal cells is connected with one another; a first bonding member positioned on the first metal foam sheet; and a second metal foam sheet positioned on the first bonding member, and including an open cell, in which a plurality of internal cells is connected with one another. Materials of an interface between the first metal foam sheet and the first bonding member and an interface between the second metal foam sheet and the first bonding member are atomically diffused.