Practical applications of the octahedral model theory for porous materials: Characterizing the tensile strength of metal foams

Abstract

For highly porous metal foams, the tensile strength is the most elementary in mechanical properties. Based on the octahedral model theory, the investigation on tensile strength is carried out for diversified metal foams. In this investigation, the porous products are structured in different forms, including the reticular and the cellular. The theoretical relations are practically applied to a series of metal foam products, and accordingly the model theory is verified to be well practicable for characterizing the metal foams. The research shows that the theoretical characterization could appropriately reflect the relationship between the tensile strength and porosity for metal foams with different structures. The octahedral model theory can be well applied to calculating the tensile strength of metal foams.