Aluminum Foam -
Energy Absorption Under Tension and Compression Loading Conditions
Dr. Altenhof's research team has been involved with a number of investigations considering possible methods to enhance the
energy absorption of AA6061 (with T4 and T6 treatments) and AA6063-T5 structural members under compressive loading conditions.
The use of crush initiators and metallic foam has illustrated a significant increase in energy absorption capabilities as well
as the crush force efficiencies. The accompanying graph illustrates that for tubes which experience progressive buckling a
significant increase (approaching values near unity) in crush force efficiency is observed by some of the methods being
considered.
