Nondestructive Evaluation of Aluminium Foam Panels Subjected to Impact Loading

Aluminium foam sandwich structures have excellent energy absorption capacity, combined with good mechanical properties and low density. Some of the authors of this paper proposed an innovative Metallic Foam Shell protective device against flying ballast impact damage in railway axles. A closed-cell aluminium foam was chosen for the Metallic Foam Shell device. The main goal of this study was the experimental investigation of the impact responses of aluminium foam panels. Low velocity impact tests were carried out at different energies on different types of aluminium foam panels in order to investigate the effects of some parameters, such as core thickness, skin material and layer. Tests were conducted at repeated impacts on aluminium foam panels without and with skins made of aluminium and glass fibre-reinforced polymer. The experimental results were compared and the impacted panels were investigated by means of the nondestructive techniques ultrasonic phased array and digital radiography.