Design and testing of an energy absorber prototype based on aluminum foams

The current paper describes the methodology which has been used to design, fabricate and test an energy absorber system based on aluminum foams. The first step in the design process was devoted to define the requirements of the applications, important parameters such as the impact speed, impact force and the energy were defined. In a second part, a collection of aluminum foams were produced using the powder metallurgical route (PM) studying the mechanical properties of these materials. This process led us to define the characteristics of the aluminum foam to insert in the prototype, namely density and geometry. Finally, the energy absorber system was built, testing the whole system. The system worked properly, showing the excellent ability of aluminum foams in applications in which it is necessary to absorb the energy of an impact.