Characterization and Spectroscopic Applications of Metal Foams From New Lightweight Materials

Lightweight materials such as metallic foams possess good mechanical, chemical, and physical properties, which make them suitable for a wide range of functional and structural applications. Metal foams have recently gained substantial interest in both industry and academia due to their low cost, thermal conductivity, high working temperature, vibration damping, specific mechanical properties, energy absorption, and heat resistance. The use of metal foams on a large scale and successful applications depend on a detailed understanding of their characteristic properties. Metallic foams are characterized by the morphology of the porous cells (size and shape, open or closed, macro and micro), pore topology, relative density, properties of the pore wall, and the degree of anisotropy. This contribution focuses on x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and Raman spectroscopic applications used for the characterization of metal foam, and also a brief of the most important applications, including a significant number of examples given.