Identification of elastoplastic material parameters for the solid phase of metal foams

For the prediction of the mechanical behavior of foams, the effective foam properties can be calculated from the mechanical properties of the solid phase and the geometric microstructure via computer simulation. However, the mechanical properties of the solid phase often differ from those of the bulk material due to the manufacturing process. In the paper, we propose a new method for solving this problem. Loading-unloading tests on a foam sample are used to identify the material parameters of the solid phase of Al via a microscale simulation. A closed-cell Al foam is considered as an example. Finally, we show that for a different microstructure, the identified material parameters predict the unknown effective foam parameters with high accuracy. For this purpose, a second Al foam sample is considered. • We present a new approach to determine the true mechanical properties of the solid material inside aluminum foams by combining cyclic compression tests with three-dimensional imaging. • The identified material parameters accurately predict foam behavior even when the internal pore structure differs, reducing uncertainty in modeling and design. • This work enables more reliable use of aluminum foams in lightweight and energy-absorbing applications by linking structural performance to verified solid-phase properties.