LAUSR

Abstract The mechanical properties of closed-cell aluminium foams are governed by their geometrical and topological evolution during impact. Here we non-destructively investigate the deformation mechanisms of a closed-cell aluminium foam sample at the cell scale. The sample has been compressed with 21 interrupted drop-weight impacts at a nominal strain rate of 40 s−1 and the post-impacted sample has been imaged at four pertinent strain states with high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography (XCT). Moreover, a number of qualitative and quantitative structural analyses are carried out using advanced 3D image analyses to understand the effect of foam geometry/topology on its mechanical response. Our results show that the deforming microstructure creates strong correlations across a range of geometrical, topological and shape characteristics. Quantitative image analyses of the sample at four different strain states reveal that the regions with large void fractions predominantly undergo collapse and subsequently reduces the structural heterogeneity. Further, we show that the deformation mechanism leaves topological signatures in the evolving microstructure, which can be used to better understand the mechanical response of the sample at various stages of impact-deformation. We demonstrate here, for the first time, how the topological quantities can be used to explore the foam deformation mechanisms and to correlate the deformation with mechanical response during impact.