Industrial Technology Research Institute

Kou-Chang Su

Shan-Chang Chueh

Wen-Chi Chen

Chin-Chen Yang

Chin-Chan Yang

Ting-Huey Chiou

A process for making high-quality foamed aluminum articles is disclosed. This process comprises the step of: (a) placing a raw aluminum feedstock into a mold, the raw aluminum feed stock contains at least 50 wt % spent (i.e., recycled) aluminum and does not contain any extraneous viscosity enhancing agent such as metallic calcuim or magnesium; (b) heating the mold so as to melt the raw aluminum feedstock to form a liquid aluminum mass; (c) stirring the liquid aluminum mass in open air to increase its viscosity by a factor of at least about 1.3 to 1.8; (d) adding a foaming agent into the liquid aluminum mass; (e) continuing stirring the liquid aluminum mass containing the foaming agent so as to generate and uniformly distribute gas bubbles inside said liquid aluminum mass; and (f) cooling and solidifying the liquid aluminum mass to room temperature so as to form the foamed aluminum article. In a preferred embodiment, recycled foamed aluminum materials are used as the raw aluminum feedstock. The foamed aluminum article has a porosity of at least 80%, a specificity density of no greater than 0.45, and an average pore size between 3 and 6 min. Because the process is self-thickening, and no extraneous thickeners such as calcium metal are needed, great economic benefits can be obtained without adversely affecting the quality of the final product.

Method for manufacturing environmentally conscious foamed aluminum

A method for preparing foamed aluminum alloy composites comprising the steps of: (a) placing a liquid hardness-reinforcement composition into a tank, the hardness-reinforcement composition containing about 54.about.64 wt. % of an inorganic powder, about 35.about.45 wt. % of a nonflammable curable resin, and about 1 wt. % of a curing agent; (b) placing a foamed aluminum alloy plate having an internal porous body into the tank containing the hardness-reinforcement composition, then applying a pressure of about 10.about.50 Kg/cm.sup.2 onto the foamed aluminum alloy plate for about one to two hours so as to allow the hardness-reinforcement composition to soak into the foamed aluminum alloy plate and form a coated layer on the surface of the porous body; (c) removing the foamed aluminum alloy plate that has been coated with a layer of the hardness-reinforcement composition from the tank; and (d) drying and curing the curable nonflammable resin so as to form the foamed aluminum alloy composite. The inorganic powder can be any mineral powder such as marble, granite, alabaster or serpentine powder. The foamed aluminum alloy composite plates of the present invention has light weight and exhibits excellent heat and sound insulation, and can be used as excellent building construction material for interior and exterior walls, partition walls, floors, and ceilings. If marble powder is used as the inorganic powder, the final polished plates of the present invention can be further imparted with an exquisite marble appearance for decorative effect.

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Kaoshing, Taiwan

Kou-Chang Su