The compressive behaviour of porous copper made by the GASAR process

Abstract

Recently, porous metals and ceramics have been made by melting the solid in a hydrogen atmosphere and then cooling through the eutectic point; the technique is known as the GASAR process. The size, shape, orientation and volume fraction of the pores can be controlled by the direction and rate of cooling and the pressure of the system. Here we describe the uniaxial compressive behaviour of GASAR copper with cylindrical pores oriented in the direction of loading. The elastic modulus and yield strength of the porous materials increase linearly with increasing relative density. Initial plastic deformation was found to be due to plastic yielding of the solid rather than buckling of the cells walls. The characteristic densification strain decreased linearly with increasing relative density.