New-style smooth-faced aluminium foam plates (AFPs) covered by dense skins have been fabricated directly. AFPs with porosity ranging from 79.3 to 85.2% and with an average diameter of 2.3 to 2.7 mm are obtained via the melt foaming method. The formation mechanism of external dense skins is studied. The dense skin is composed of a cell wall of non-ruptured bubbles, a coarse region formed from ruptured bubbles and plateau borders. The fracture mechanism of AFPs is studied based on static three-point bending tests. They show that the cracked region is only observed at the centre of the experimental samples and that brittle fracture is the main fracture mechanism of these AFPs.
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