Sandwich panels with two-dimensional metal cores can be used to carry structural load as well as dissipate heat through solid conduction and forced convection. This work attempts to uncover the nature of heat transfer in these lightweight systems, with emphasis on the eects of varying cell morphologies and cell arrangements. The types of cell shape and cell arrangement considered include regular hexagon, square with connectivity 4 or 3, and triangle with connectivity 6 or 4. Two analytical models are developed: corrugated wall and eective medium. The former models the cellular structure in detail whilst, the latter models the fluid saturated porous structure using volume averaging techniques. The overall heat transfer coeffcient and pressure drop are obtained as functions of relative density, cell shape, cell arrangement, fluid properties, and overall dimensions of the heat sink. A two-stage optimization is subsequently carried out to identify cell morphologies that optimize the structural and heat transfer performance at speci

The deformation behaviour of two different types of aluminium alloy foam are studied under tension, compression, shear and hydrostatic pressure. Foams having closed cells are processed via batch casting, whereas foams with semi-open cells are processed by negative pressure infiltration. The influence of relative foam density, cell structure and cell orientation on the stiffness and strength of foams is studied; the deformation mechanisms are analysed by using video imaging and SEM (scanning electronic microscope). The measured dependence of stiffness and strength upon relative foam density are compared with analytical predictions. The measured stress versus strain curves along different loading paths are compared with predictions from a phenomenological constitutive model. It is found that the deformations of both types of foams are dominated by cell wall bending, attributed to various process induced imperfections in the cellualr structure. The closed cell foam is found to be isotropic, whereas the semi-open cell foam shows strong anisotropy.

The sound absorption capacity of one type of aluminum alloy foams-trade name Alporas-is studied experimentally. The foam in its as-received cast form contains closed porosities, and hence does not absorb sound well. To make the foam more transparent to air motion, techniques based on either rolling or hole drilling are used. Under rolling, the faces of some of the cells break to form small sharp-edged cracks as observed from a scanning electronic microscope. These cracks become passage ways for the in-and-out movement of air particles, resulting in sound absorption improvement. The best performance is nevertheless achieved via hole drilling where nearly all of the sound can be absorbed at selected frequencies. Combining rolling with hole drilling does not appear to lend additional benefits for sound absorption. Image analysis is carried out to characterize the changes in cell morphologies due to rolling/compression, and the drop in elastic modulus due to the formation of cracks is recorded. The effects of varying the relative foam density and panel thickness on sound absorption are measured, and optimal relative density and thickness of the panel are identified. Analytical models are used to explain the measured increase in sound absorption due to rolling and/or drilling. Sound absorbed by viscous flow across small cracks appears to dominate over that dissipated via ]other mechanisms.

The thermal shock resistance of a brittle solid is analysed for an orthotropic plate suddenly exposed to a convective medium of different temperature. Two types of plate are considered: (i) a plate containing a distribution of flaws such as pores, for which a stress-based fracture criterion is appropriate, and (ii) a plate containing a single dominant crack aligned with the through-thickness direction, for which a critical stress intensity factor criterion is appropriate. First, the temperature and stress histories in the plate are given for the full range of Biot number. For the case of a cold shock, the stress field is tensile near the surface of the plate and gives rise to a mode I stress intensity factor for a pre-existing crack at the surface of the plate. Alternatively, for the case of hot shock, the stress field is tensile at the centre of the plate and gives rise to a mode I stress intensity factor for a pre-existing crack at the centre of the plate. Lower bound solutions are obtained for the maximum thermal shock that the plate can sustain without catastrophic failure according to the two distinct criteria: (i) maximum local tensile stress equals the tensile strength of the solid, and (ii) maximum stress intensity factor for the pre-existing representative crack equals the fracture toughness of the solid. Merit indices of material properties are deduced, and optimal materials are selected on the basis of these criteria, for the case of a high Biot number (high surface heat transfer) and a low Biot number (low surface heat transfer). The relative merit of candidate materials depends upon the magnitude of the Biot number, and upon the choice of failure criterion. The eect of porosity on thermal shock resistance is also explored: it is predicted that the presence of porosity is gener-ally bene