Technology

Process

The key element of A.G.S. Taron's technology is its ability to produce high quality aluminum foam products, in sheet form, from aluminum powder mixture in a single step process on conventional metal rolling equipment. The process is based on the hot roll compaction of a formulated powder mixture (e.g. aluminum + foaming agent) to produce a quasi-dense (97% to 100%) precursor material as a flat strip. These resulting products are subsequently heated to just before their melting point, thus decomposing the foaming agent to release gas which forms bubbles in the surrounding aluminum matrix and thereby producing aluminum foam under controlled conditions.

This process allows for the manufacture of aluminum foam products using equipment and production economics that are similar to the economics of an aluminum roll casting process. The major part of the production cost is attributed to the raw materials, primarily granular aluminum powders, foaming agents and heavy gauge metal sheet, i.e., aluminum, steel, stainless steel, and titanium.

A.G.S. Taron's technology represents a breakthrough in the aluminum powder foam process that will generate and optimize the value of aluminum foam in commercial and industrial applications.   The key characteristics of this innovation are:

• The dense and foamed composites have strong interdiffusion between the layers and core.
• Possibility of using different types of cladding materials (aluminum, steel, stainless-steel, titanium).
• Multilayer composites (combination of dense and foamed layers).
• Possibility of core reinforcement with special materials.
• Capability of forming and bending of the dense sandwich composite.
• Densities greater than 35% of the parent metal, conserving the essential mechanical properties of the parent for structural application.
• Homogeneous cell structure - for consistent properties throughout the material.
• Well-controlled fine bubble structure.
• Continuous processing - for high volume sheet production in continuous lengths with variable widths.