Heat Transfer and Acoustic Properties of Open Cell Aluminum Foams

The aluminum open cell foams have been prepared by the conventional precision casting method to investigate the thermal and acoustic properties.A water heating system and silencers were organized as a first step for its applications.The temperature increase between the top and bottom of the foam became larger as the cell size increased in the heat transfer measurement.Sound absorption ratio of the close cell foams was 60%-100%, whereas the open cell aluminum foam showed only 10%-20% of sound absorption at low frequency.When the prototype electric water heater manufactured by combining aluminum open cell foam with a heater was heated to 100-400℃,the highest temperature of water was in the range of 16-46~C.This suggests that there could be potential for this type of heater to be used as a commercial electric water heater.Sound silencer made with the aluminum open cell foam was applied to exit of exhaustion side at air pressure line.Sound silencing effect of open-celled aluminum foam showed that the noise level went down by introducing smaller cell size foam.