Microstructural influence on compressive behavior and strain rate sensitivity of open-cell nickel foam

Open-cell nickel foam (OCNF) is a highly porous, three-dimensional material with potential applications in various fields, such as energy storage, catalysis, and thermal management. However, the microstructural effect of pores per inch (PPI), cell size and strain rate (SR) sensitivity on the mechanical properties of OCNF has not been fully explored. We characterized the samples of OCNFs using digital image correlation (DIC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping. Our results show that the OCNF exhibits a linear elastic response under quasi-static compression, with high compressive strength and a low compressive modulus. The dynamic compression test results demonstrate that the OCNF has a high energy absorption capacity and good structural stability. We designed and constructed a method to generate the 3D meshes based on the scans of the OCNFs obtained by X-ray micro-CT. The 3D meshes allow the finite element method to capture the key features of the mechanical behaviors with high fidelity. The simulated mechanical behavior of the OCNFs demonstrates strong concordance with the observed experimental findings.