Metal Foams: A Design Guide

Preface and acknowledgements
Metal foams are a new class of materials with low densities and novel physical,
mechanical, thermal, electrical and acoustic properties. This Design Guide is
a contribution to the concurrent development of their science and exploitation.
It seeks to document design information for metal foams even as the scientific
research and process development are evolving. This should help to identify
promising industrial sectors for applications, guide process development and
accelerate take-up.
This work is supported by the DARPA/ONR MURI Program through Grant
No. N00014-1-96-1028 for Ultralight Metal Structures and by the British
Engineering and Science Research Council through a Research Grant. Many
individuals and groups have contributed to its contents. They include Professor
B. Budiansky, Professor H. Stone, Professor R. Miller, Dr A. Bastawros, Dr
Y. Sugimura of the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard
University; Dr T.J. Lu, Dr Anne-Marie Harte, Dr V. Deshpande of the
Micromechanics Centre, Engineering Department, Cambridge University; Dr
E.W. Andrews and Dr L. Crews of the Department of Materials Science and
Engineering, MIT; Professor D. Elzey, Dr D. Sypeck and Dr K. Dharmasena
of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UVA; Dr John
Banhart of the Fraunhofer Institüt Angewandte Materialsforschung, Bremen;
Professor H.P. Degisher and Dr Brigdt Kriszt of the Technical University of
Vienna, Dr Jeff Wood of Cymat Corp. Mississauga, Canada; and Mr Bryan
Leyda of Energy Research and Generation Inc. Oakland, CA.
Although the compilers of this Guide have made every effort to confirm
the validity of the data and design information it contains, the compilers
make no warranty, either expressed or implied, with respect to their
quality, accuracy or validity.