Abstract
The finite element method is applied to analyze the deformation mechanisms in the closed-cell Al foam under the compression. The modeling of the real cellular structure proceeds with the concept of the reverse engineering. First of all, the small, $10{\times}\;10{\times}\;10mm^3$ sized specimens of the closed-cell Al foam are prepared. The micro focus X-ray CTsystem of SHIMADZU Corp. is used to scan the full structures of the specimens. The scanned structures are converted to the geometric surfaces and solids through the software for 3-D scan data processing, RapidFormTMof INUS Tech. Inc. Then the solid meshes are directly generated on the converted geometric solids for the finite element analysis. The large elastic-plastic deformation and 3-D contact problems for the Al cellular material are considered. The clear and successful analysis for the deformation mechanisms in the closed-cell Al foam is carried out through the comparison of the numerical results in this research with the referred experimental ones.
