On the Reconstruction Method of Ceramic Foam Structures and the Methodology of Young Modulus Determination

Abstract

Abstract In the present paper a finite element model was used to investigate the mechanical properties such as Young’s modulus of open-cell ceramic foam. Finite element discretization was derived from real foam specimen by computer tomography images. The generated 3D geometry of the ceramic foam was used to simulate deformation process under compression. The own numerical procedure was developed to control finite element mesh density by changing the element size. Several numerical simulations of compression test have been carried out using commercial finite element code ABAQUS. The size of the ceramic specimen and the density of finite element mesh were examined. The influence of type and size of finite element on the value of Young’s modulus was studied, as well. The obtained numerical results have been compared with the results of experimental investigations carried out by Ortega [11]. It is shown that numerical results are in close agreement with experiment. It appears also that the dependency of Young’s modulus of ceramic foam on density of finite element mesh cannot be ignored.