Geometric modelling of metallic foams

Purpose: The aim of this work is the development of a procedure able to model the highly irregular cellular structure of metallic foams on the basis of information obtained by X-ray tomographic analysis. Method: The geometric modelling is based on the feature “pore” characterized by an ellipsoidal shape. The data for the geometric parameters of the instances are obtained with a methodology which is driven by the pore volume distribution curve. This curve shows how much the cells, whose diameter belongs to a given dimensional range, contribute to the reduction of the total volume. Result. The presented methodology has been implemented into a CAD tool consisting of a Matlab routine identifying the instances of the feature “pore” and a CATIA’s macro modelling the closed cells foam. Discussion & Conclusion: The CAD model developed for two types of closed cells foams approximates by considerable accuracy both the density and the volume distribution of the real foams.