L I S A - Lightweight Structural Applications Based on Metallic and Organic foams Project duration 2/2002-1/2005 European Commission, Fifth Framework Program GROWTH ; G5RD-CT-2001-00484 9 partners 1
LISA - Consortium Foam and powder suppliers, Co-ordinator (Germany) Henkel Teroson GmbH (Germany) Sudamin MHD GmbH (Germany) End users BMW AG (Germany) Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd. (United Kingdom) Centro Ricerche Fiat S.C.p.a. (Italy) EADS CCR (France) Ford Forschungszentrum GmbH (Germany) Simulation Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU (Norway) 2
L I S A - Objectives (1) Identification of new potential applications for foam filled hollow structures with improved properties in terms of stiffness, strength, energy absorption, noise reduction and weight. Development and redesign of demonstrators for identified applications and prove of benefit compared to current solutions. 3
L I S A - Objectives (2) Evaluation of technologies for manufacturing foam filled structures in terms of integrating those components into commercial production lines. Development of new zinc foam core materials. Development of a new production technology for aluminum foam filled long extrusions with metallic binding between foam core and shell profile 4
LISA - overview of demonstration items Disseminated characteristic metal foam properties energy absorption weight specific stiffness vibration attenuation inflammability Application areas for metal foams and foam sandwich structures crash box (automotive, railway) side rail (automotive) A-/B-pillar (automotive) floor panel (railway) radome shield (aerospace) 5
LISA - demonstration items in railway industry Bombardier Transportation (Derby, United Kingdom) Development goal: Increased passive safety performance Anti-Climb Unit Anticlimb units are mechanically attached to the front of vehicles to prevent vehicle overide To increase energy absorption aluminum foam blocks can be inserted into the aluminum hollow sections (density 0,30g/cm3) Cab Crush Box Foam can be used in the crush structure of the carbody An aluminum fabrication will be filled with aluminum metallic foam (density 0,40g/cm3) Internal floor panel Aluminum foam sandwich (AFS) material can be used as floor panels in passenger cars. The high weight specific bending stiffness together with vibration attenuation of the AFS panel can save weight and increase passenger comfort 6
LISA - demonstration items in automotive industry Co-operation of BMW (Munich, Germany) and Ford (Aachen, Germany) Development goal: Increased vehicle passive safety performance Demonstration item: A-pillar Wind screen section: Stiffening of the hollow structure through insertion of a polymer foam to broaden the view from the drivers seat Transition to B-pillar: Improvement of the crash performance at comparable weight through insertion of an aluminium foam core replacing a steel insert 7
LISA - demonstration items in automotive industry Centro Ricerche Fiat (Orbassano, Italy) Development goal: Increased vehicle passive safety performance Rear rail B Joint A Joint A Pillar H Joint F1 Energy absorption Stabilization Energy absorption & Stabilization F2 F3 F4 B Pillar C Joint F Joint Front rail S1 S2 S3 S4 S Through application of metallic and/or organic foams in selected body structure parts an increased stiffness and energy absorption of the vehicle structure shall be realized Enhancement of occupant safety at comparable weight is targeted Benchmark is a conventional steel reinforced body structure 8
Metal foaming - research project LISA LISA - demonstration items in automotive industry Centro Ricerche Fiat (Orbassano, Italy) Innovative material for passive improvement in automotive sector TARGET Metallic foams Demonstrator Multipla Euro NCAP 2001 safety Target: Euro NCAP Optimised foam insert Experimental validation Redesign Multipla Aluminium foam optimised inserts Virtual analysis body stiffness Virtual analysis Crash 9
LISA - demonstration items in automotive industry Centro Ricerche Fiat (Orbassano, Italy) Current status virtual analysis of exisiting and steel reinforced Multipla body structure completed topological optimisation by simulation of identified demonstrators finished metallic foam inserts have been produced integration of foam parts to structure and mechanical tests are scheduled First results (metall foam structure compared with existing/steel reinforced version) static stiffness: + 5 % comp. to exisiting vers. / + 3 % comp. to steel reinf. vers. cab intrusion: - 20 % / - 5 % weight: + 2 kg / - 8 kg Further procedure Validation of simulation results by mech. tests + 2nd redesign of metal foam parts 10
LISA - demonstration items in aerospace industry EADS CCR (Suresnes, France) in co-operation with NTNU (Trondheim, Norway) Development goal: Increased passive safety performance Demonstration item: Radome shield radome shield protects the cockpit against impacts (birds, etc.) evaluation by high speed impact test (bird impact) at 190 m/s finished project (METEOR) showed high potential for aluminum foam application but also requirement for optimization (weight + performance) for optimization a tool for simulation of the high speed impact performance of metal foam sandwich structures is being developed (LS DYNA) different metal foam sandwich structures are in production and will be tested for validation of simulation results finally a weight and performance optimized structure will be designed, produced and tested 11
LISA - development of zinc foam technology MHD (Duisburg, Germany) in co-operation with ITP and IFAM (Bremen, Germany) Development goal: minimum foam density stable liquid foam Zinc foam good pore morphology for homogeneous properties Why Zinc? Improved pore structure improved corrosion resistance existing recycling logistics Experiments: matrix materials: pure zinc, ZAMAK 27 (die casting alloy) foaming agents: MgH 2, TiH 2, ZrH 2 foaming agent mixtures of two agents 12
LISA - development of zinc foam technology MHD (Duisburg, Germany) in co-operation with ITP and IFAM (Bremen, Germany) Results: Poster A95: K. Stöbener, J. Weise, G. Rausch (Germany) Zinc foams - New approaches for reduced foam density Further steps: Evaluation of different precursor production processes Production of zinc foam demonstrator 13
LISA - Development of new production technology for aluminum foam filled long extrusions with metallic binding between foam core and shell profile IFAM (Bremen, Germany) Development goal: Long foam filled extrusion production of two-layer-composite with one conventional metal layer and one foamable aluminium layer by roll cladding forming of two-layer-composite to hollow profile with foamable layer on the inside continuous foam expansion Possible application areas: foamable layer conventional aluminium alloy Crash box, lightweight construction 14
Conclusion 11 demonstrators for applications in automotive, rail transport and aeronautics identified approach: structure optimization through simulation tools - > redesign of foam filled area validation of virtual tests is ongoing compatibility with production processes will be investigated With the L I S A project, metal foam development has made an important step forward towards mass production of metal foams 15