Aluminum foam-filled extrusions subjected to oblique loading: experimental and numerical study

Abstract

The behavior of empty and foam-filled square thin-walled aluminum columns in alloy AA6060 subjected to quasi-static oblique loading was examined. Previous studies have shown that by introducing a load angle, the energy absorption decreases drastically compared to axial loading. One of the main objectives of the present investigation was to study the effect of introducing aluminum foam filler on the energy absorption. The square columns were clamped at one end and oblique load conditions were realized at the other end by applying a force with different angles to the centerline of the column. An experimental program was carried out where the main parameters were load angle, foam density and heat treatment of the extrusion material. Additionally, numerical analyses of the experiments were performed, mainly to verify a numerical model of the obliquely loaded foam-filled columns. The foam was modeled with the foam model of Deshpande and Fleck, together with a simple fracture criterion, which previously has been implemented as a user subroutine in LS-DYNA. The study shows that high-density aluminum foam filler increases the energy absorption considerably, but the specific energy absorption is lowered compared to the empty cross sections. Furthermore, the numerical analyses were able to predict the experimental results with reasonable accuracy.