Aluminum foam has received considerable attention in various fields and is expected to be used as an engineering material owing to its high energy absorption properties and light weight. To improve the mechanical properties of aluminum foam, combining it with dense tubes, such as aluminum foam-filled tubes, was considered necessary. In this study, an aluminum foam-filled steel tube, which consisted of ADC12 aluminum foam and a thin-wall steel tube, was successfully fabricated by friction welding. It was shown that a diffusion bonding layer with a thickness of approximately 10 μm was formed, indicating that strong bonding between the aluminum foam and the steel tube was realized. By the X-ray computed tomography observation of pore structures, the fabrication of an aluminum foam-filled tube with almost uniform pore structures over the entire specimen was confirmed. In addition, it was confirmed that the aluminum foam-filled steel tube exhibited mechanical properties superior to those of the ADC12 aluminum foam and steel tube. This is considered to be attributed to the combination of the aluminum foam and steel tube, which particularly prevents the brittle fracture and collapse of the ADC12 foam by the steel tube, along with the strong metal bonding between the aluminum foam and the steel tube.
Keywords: X-ray computed tomography (CT); cellular materials; composites; die casting; foam; friction welding.