Preparation and characterisation of cellular metals (MEMoRIAL-M2.6)

Due to their outstanding properties metallic cellular structures have increasingly come into focus of research and development. A great number of potential applications has yet been addressed, not least including the utilisation for the purpose of structural support as well as applications in the fields of light-weight construction or biomedicine.

However, the specific surface area of those structures is commonly too small. Moreover, cellular structures may cause mechanical instabilities of materials if critical heigths or diameters are exceeded. To bridge this gap, novel manufacturing strategies have to be developed and transferred to common materials.

The objective of this sub-project is to develop a novel processing route in order to produce mechanically stable, high-surface area cellular metals. The development of "process-microstructure-properties" relations is essential for the understanding of the material's behaviour.

Solid state microstructure and mechanical characterisation, non-destructive and application-related testing, as well as collaborations with our partners of the materials simulation group make up integral parts of this sub-project.