Characterization and Behavior of Aluminum Foam Sandwich Fabricated by A Novel Approach Via Hot-Dip Process

Metallurgical bonding aluminum foam sandwich (AFS) was fabricated by specially designed method of solder pre-coating via hot-dip and heat-press assisted with vibration. Peeling test and three-point bending test were performed to investigate the joints strength and flexural strength of the AFS. The results show that the joints have steady mechanical properties, and the joint fabricated with ultrasonic vibration has much higher peeling moment and flexural strength than that prepared only by hot-press. Microstructure observations of the joints indicate a good metallurgical bonding between Al face sheet and foam core was achieved. The seam of AFS fabricated by hot-press assisted with ultrasonic vibration looks more compact and the bonding interface fused together firmly. The bonding faces of aluminum sheet and foam core are obviously corroded by melt ZnAl alloy and an obvious interdiffusion took placed during hot-dip process and hot-press, so the chemical compositions in the diffusion tran