Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming TechnologyWhat is the challenge?
Lightweight construction is an ever-increasing trend of our time, enabling companies to use raw materials sparingly and to keep energy consumption low over the life cycle of a product. Highly complex material composites are often aimed for, usually consisting of fibre-reinforced plastic composites. However, these have, for example, limited thermal resistance and are only recyclable to a limited extent at the end of the product life cycle.
What solution do we have for you?
We offer sandwiches with aluminium cover sheets and aluminium foam core as a purely metallic solution that meets the desired requirements. The aluminium cover sheets take up attacking loads. The aluminium foam core is very light and reliably keeps the cover sheets at a distance. The composite partners are in metallic material contact, which means that no adhesive is required for the composite fabrication. Very good recyclability, high thermal resistance and considerable composite strength are the result. The semi-finished product is called AAS for short - the abbreviation stands for aluminium aluminium-foam sandwich.
What is now available in concrete terms?
Depending on your individual requirements and applications, the aluminium aluminium-foam sandwiches can be produced in series with dimensions of up to 3000 mm x 1500 mm and thereby correspond to the commercially available large sheet format. We will advise you on detailed questions and possible applications of the AAS.
Which partners were involved in the development?
- Havel metal foam GmbH
