THE EFFECT OF HEAT TREATMENT ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THERMALLY SPRAYED SANDWICH STRUCTURE BEAMS

The application of metallic foam core sandwich structures in engineering components has been of particular interest in recent years because of their unique mechanical and thermal properties. Thermal spraying of the skin on the foam structure has recently been employed as a novel cost-efficient method for fabrication of these structures from refractory materials with complex shapes that could not otherwise be easily fabricated. The mechanical behavior of these structures under flexural loading is important in most applications. Previous studies have suggested that heat treatment of the thermally sprayed sandwich structures could improve the ductility of the skins and so affect the failure mode. In the present study the mechanical behavior of sandwich beams prepared from arc sprayed alloy 625 skin on 40 ppi nickel foam was characterized under four point bending. The ductility of the arc sprayed alloy 625 coatings was improved after heat treatment at 1100ºC and 900ºC while the yield point was reduced. Heat treatment of the sandwich beams reduced the danger of catastrophic failure.