Deformation Behavior of Nanoporous Metals

Nanoporous open-cell foams are a rapidly growing class of high-porosity materials (porosity {ge} 70%). The research in this field is driven by the desire to create functional materials with unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties where the material properties emerge from both morphology and the material itself. An example is the development of nanoporous metallic materials for photonic and plasmonic applications which has recently attracted much interest. The general strategy is to take advantage of various size effects to introduce novel properties. These size effects arise from confinement of the material by pores and ligaments, and can range from electromagnetic resonances to length scale effects in plasticity. In this chapter we will focus on the mechanical properties of low density nanoporous metals and how these properties are affected by length scale effects and bonding characteristics. A thorough understanding of the mechanical behavior will open the door to further improve and fine-tune the mechanical properties of these sometimes very delicate materials, and thus will be crucial for integrating nanoporous metals into products. Cellular solids with pore sizes above 1 micron have been the subject of intense research for many years, and various scaling relations describing the mechanical properties have been developed.[4]more » In general, it has been found that the most important parameter in controlling their mechanical properties is the relative density, that is, the density of the foam divided by that of solid from which the foam is made. Other factors include the mechanical properties of the solid material and the foam morphology such as ligament shape and connectivity. The characteristic internal length scale of the structure as determined by pores and ligaments, on the other hand, usually has only little effect on the mechanical properties. This changes at the submicron length scale where the surface-to-volume ratio becomes large and the effect of free surfaces can no longer be neglected. As the material becomes more and more constraint by the presence of free surfaces, length scale effects on plasticity become more and more important and bulk properties can no longer be used to describe the material properties. Even the elastic properties may be affected as the reduced coordination of surface atoms and the concomitant redistribution of electrons may soften or stiffen the material. If, and to what extend, such length scale effects control the mechanical behavior of nanoporous materials depends strongly on the material and the characteristic length scale associated with its plastic deformation. For example, ductile materials such as metals which deform via dislocation-mediated processes can be expected to exhibit pronounced length scale effects in the sub-micron regime where free surfaces start to constrain efficient dislocation multiplication. In this chapter we will limit our discussion to our own area of expertise which is the mechanical behavior of nanoporous open-cell gold foams as a typical example of nanoporous metal foams. Throughout this chapter we will review our current understanding of the mechanical properties of nanoporous open-cell foams including both experimental and theoretical studies.« less