Artifact: Idealised metal foam

Idealised metal foam. It was reverse engineered from a scan of a randomly packed jar of marbles. Additive manufacturing allows researchers to make foams with the same structure, but different densities, to better understand their properties and improve the design of new foams for uses including providing impact protection in the automotive sector.

Material: Titanium Alloy (Ti-6Al- 4V)

Process: Electron Beam Melting (EBM)

Journal Paper: Hernandez-Nava, E., Smith, C.J., Derguti, F., Tammas-Williams, S., Leonard, F., Withers, P.J., Todd, I. & Goodall, R. (2015). The effect of density and feature size on mechanical properties of isostructural metallic foams produced by additive manufacturing. Acta Materialia. 85, 387-395.