Effect of SWCNTs content and relative density on the energy absorption capabilities of closed-cell Al-cenosphere-SWCNTs hybrid foam

Al-Cenosphere-SWCNTs closed cell hybrid foams (HFs) of varying relative densities (rho(rd)) were synthesized through stir casting technique using TiH2 (0.6 wt % of alloy) as a foaming agent, processed SWCNTs (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 wt %) and cenosphere (4.25 wt % or 15 vol %) as thickening agent. Cenosphere particles provided micro-porosity within the cell wall and its shells act as reinforcement. It was noted that the addition of SWCNTs and Cenosphere improved the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus (E-f), plastic collapse stress (sigma(pc)), plateau stress (sigma(pt)) and, energy absorption capabilities (E-ab) of HFs. In HFs these properties increases with increase in SWCNTs up to 0.3 wt % and a further increase in SWCNTs content leads to the reduction of these properties of HFs. It is interestingly observed that the densification strain (eD) for a constant p,d is almost invariant to the SWCNTs content. The mechanical properties of the AFs and HFs foamsareempirically simulated and also compared with standard existing models for the different SWCNTs contents and prd. The deformation has been examined during compression test.