Comments on: NEW MATERIAL: Alusion Aluminum Foam

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:01:26 +0000

You guys all seem to know your stuff but personally, i think that stuff would look awesome as a lamp cover/shade.

Yeh it would conduct heat but with the energy saving bulbs, surely that cant be a probem?

By: Craig Yancey

Craig Yancey — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:19:22 +0000

Inner armor for cars, planes, space stations? Think “Urban assault vehicle” from Stripes.

Use solar furnace to produce aluminum from rocks on moon, then use this material as outer walls of structure, covered inside with kevlar/mylar, outside with regolith (moon dirt). Beats hauling heavy metals to space. Anything that cuts down on NASA’s fuel consumption helps Earth’s environment.

By: Scott Bennett

Scott Bennett — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 03:17:00 +0000

Soil leaching shouldn’t really be a problem- aluminum oxide is non-permeable to air, so aluminum doesn’t decay through oxidation the way steel does. It gets thin film of oxidation, then the process stops because the air (oxygen really) can’t get down to the rest of the metal. Anodizing is really just a way of depositing an even layer of aluminum oxide on the surface in a controlled fashion. I don’t know of any reason you couldn’t anodize this stuff and add a color. In fact, I seem to recall seeing a purple sample somewhere.

The idea of using it as a heatsink is intriguing, although I wonder if the cells are open enough for that to work well.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:20:00 +0000

Can this be anodized? If this is being used externally (i.e. not a shock absorber or something that’s hidden inside a panel), the oxidation layer would look pretty ugly, not to mention get smeared on anything that brushed up against it.

Other than that and what has been said above, perhaps this would be useful as a heatsink / heat transfer material? For example, by attaching it in thin sheets (like the top pix, not the bottom) to a heating element and forcing air through the pores. It has incredible surface area!

By: Matt P

Matt P — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 12:32:00 +0000

I’d be wary of using it in garden, it could leach into the soil.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 00:24:00 +0000

Beeing made of Aluminium filled with air means it’s lightweight, and if it’s not brittle then a thicker sheet would be perfect as a shock absorber, for example in car doors (analogy with a beehive hexagonal structure).

Of course this being a design studio you’d like something visible ;) but you can use this idea as a a starting point and get creative!

By: Blackmoore

Blackmoore — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:22:00 +0000

I wonder if this would be a good roofing material, either as shingles, or sheets. If it is truely porus it could be a “filter” layer for a green roof.

By: solidcube

solidcube — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:08:00 +0000

One idea might be to put this stuff up in an hemi-icosahedron and blast it with shotcrete. It looks like it would make an absolutely wonderful matrix for that, and then you’d effectively have a reinforced concrete hemisphere. Then I’d think it would be of structural strength.

By: Ro

Ro — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 07:57:00 +0000

Scott, but you could make a steel frame around it, right? You could use this as a tile on top of the regular steel stairways as well. Then you wouldn’t have the concerns of strucural strength.

Good to hear that it does have sound absorbing properties. I wouldn’t mind seeing this in/on soundwalls next to highways, and then let the plants/moss go wild on it.

By: i8bozo

i8bozo — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 06:28:00 +0000

i’d take a decent sized size chunk of it, resin it, then figure out how to use it as a coffee table top. possibly as an inlay on a nice wood base. the texture is fascinating and would make for a nice complement to something finely crafted from wood. call me crazy but that’s what i’d do.

By: Scott Bennett

Scott Bennett — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 04:28:00 +0000

It has quite good sound absorption properties actually. From around 1kHz and up (the upper range of human speech), it has a sound absorption coefficient between .7-.85, which is really good. It should be good at damping noise in an office environment.

I wouldn’t use it for stair treads- they don’t give any strength or stiffness data, and don’t recommend it be used in structural applications without consulting them first. Also, I think the exposed edges of a stair tread might be kind of soft.

I like the idea of using it as a walkway. I think grass would grow pretty well through the open cell material.

By: Ro

Ro — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 18:07:00 +0000

Interesting suggestions tim. I think it could be perfect for outdoor stairs (instead of the plain steel ones).

And I’m wondering if this has sound absorbing properties as well. I’m not a material expert though. Anyone who can fill me in on that?

By: tim

tim — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 21:27:00 +0000

It would be an interesting design to use it as an outdoor walkway, or stairs (without resin). I’m wondering if grasses/plants would grow up through the pores?