Speaker
Description
Aluminum-based hybrid foams are emerging as advanced lightweight materials owing to their excellent energy absorption capability, corrosion resistance, and enhanced impact performance, making them highly suitable for aerospace, automotive, and defense applications. In the present study, the strain rate-dependent compressive behavior of in-house developed Novel Al–Cenosphere–MWCNT composite foam fabricated through the stir casting route is investigated under quasi-static and high strain rate loading conditions. The incorporation of hollow ceramic cenospheres significantly reduces density while improving thermal stability, whereas the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) enhances shock resistance through effective load transfer and energy dissipation mechanisms. The synergistic effect of cenospheres and MWCNTs enables a tailored combination of lightweight characteristics and improved mechanical response. Numerical simulations are carried out using an explicit finite element approach incorporating the Johnson–Cook constitutive model to capture the nonlinear deformation behavior up to strain rates of 1000 s⁻¹. The developed finite element model is validated through experimental compression tests performed using a Universal Testing Machine (UTM) and Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) setup. A good agreement between experimental and numerical results confirms the predictive capability of the proposed model. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of integrating experimental characterization with numerical modeling for evaluating the dynamic mechanical response of Novel Al–Cenosphere–MWCNT composite foams and highlights their potential for lightweight structural and energy-absorbing applications relevant to casting and advanced material processing industries.
| Speaker Company/University | Ravi Kumar, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore |
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