Low cycle fatigue of aluminum foam

An experimental investigation into the tension-compression fatigue behavior and failure mode of closed-cell aluminum foam was conducted. Alporas aluminum foam specimens, of 8.7% average relative density, were subjected to fully reversed axial fatigue at nominal total strain amplitudes ranging from 0.05% to 0.5%. The material exhibited minimal strain hardening, regardless of strain amplitude, and followed a Coffin-Manson relationship relating strain amplitude to fatigue life. Surface strain maps, generated through digital image correlation, suggest that compaction assisted crack propagation was an important driving force in the failure process. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.