Licensing opportunity
Metal foams offer a wide and very interesting mix of physical and mechanical properties for structural and functional applications. A technological process for obtaining open-cell foams of high melting point metals and alloys by liquid infiltration of ceramic particles (which are then leached by chemical attack with strong basic or acid solutions) has been patented by scientists at Politecnico do Milano.
The process is based on cheap materials and easily available casting technology, thus the patented technique results in low-cost foams with attractive cost-benefit ratios.
Open-cell foams of these metals and alloys could be suitable for a very wide field of applications. The most important and immediate uses are likely to be in heat exchangers, electrodes for fuel cells, biological filters, catalysts, electrodes, sound absorbers, jewellery, and decorative fittings.
The researchers are Professor Mapelli Carlo and Professor Enrique Mariano Castrodeza.
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