Analytical and numerical investigations of circular metal foam sandwich tube under free inversion

Abstract

The foam sandwich tube contains inner and outer tubes and filling foam. The foam sandwich tube is widely used in engineering, due to the lightweight, high specific strength, energy absorption and other excellent characteristics. In this paper, the free inversion of the circular metal foam sandwich tube (CMFST) under axial loading is studied analytically and numerically. The plastic deformation occurs in the CMFST, and its main deformation modes include circumferential expansion, radial bending of the CMFST and compression of the metal sandwich foam. An analytical model for the free inversion of the CMFST under axial loading is established, considering metal tube expansion, the radial bending of metal circular tube wall, and metal foam compression. The commercial ABAQUS software is adopted to numerically study the free inversion behavior of the CMFST. The analytical predications agree well with the numerical ones. It is shown that the specific energy absorption (SEA) of the CMFST under free inversion is significantly better than the empty tube. When the non-dimensional foam strength is 0.05, the SEA of the CMFST under free inversion is 107.68% higher than the empty tube. Thus, the metal foam sandwich tube under free inversion is an excellent energy-absorbing device.