EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Open-cell metal foams, among them aluminum and copper foams, are used as catalyst supports, heat storage material supports, or filters due to combined properties such as high thermal and electrical conductivity and high liquid/gas permeability. A high specific surface area plays an important role in this application. This work presents a novel method for the production of hierarchically porous reticulated metal foams by a combination of sponge replication and freezing techniques to increase the specific surface area by additional lamella pores introduction into their struts.
In this study, manufacturing of copper and aluminum foams by a combination of sponge replication and freezing techniques will be presented. Lamellar pores evolved during freezing and freeze drying caused an increase of the total porosity, which, in turn, affects the specific surface area, the mechanical and the thermal properties of the replica foams. Metal foams manufactured by this novel-type of combination of processing routes will be shown to be suitable as support materials for microporous heat storage materials such as metal-organic framework compounds (MOFs).