Mechanical Behaviour of Metallic Hollow Spheres Foam

Structural and mechanical characterization of stainless steel hollow spheres foams has been investigated by X‐ray tomography. In‐situ compression tests enable to study the main deformation mechanisms that govern the plasticity of the foam. FEM calculations of the compression of a pair of connected spheres have been performed in order to identify the conditions under which either mechanism is operative. Then a macroscopic phenomenological model for the compressive behaviour has been developed. It describes the overall behaviour of the material following damage progression. The model gives a description of an equivalent homogeneous material without loosing information on irreversible mechanisms occurring at the level of the mesostructure.