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Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 493–497

23rd International Conference on Material Forming (ESAFORM 2020)

Strategies for Shaping of Different Ceramic Foams

Giovanna Rotellaa, *, Michela Sanguedolceb, Maria Rosaria Saffiotib, Luigino Filiceb, Flaviano
Testaa
a
Department of Computer Engineering, Modeling, Electronics and Systems Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende, CS 87036, Italy
bDepartment
Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende, CS 87036, Italy 87036 Rende (CS), Italy
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 390984494848; E-mail address: giovanna.rotella@unical.it

Abstract

Porous ceramics are nowadays recognized to have the potential to be used for a wide variety of industrial applications. These span from filtration
in metals foundry and casting to absorption, catalysts and catalyst supports to lightweight structural components. Thus, considerable research
efforts are focused on innovative processing technologies resulting in better control of their structures and improvement of their properties.
Ceramic foams are within these materials of great interest, especially for their application as filters for aluminum alloys and other nonferrous
materials in foundry, in particular because of their resistance to high temperatures. However, shaping such kind of ceramic foams can result
difficult and costly. This paper presents an explorative experimental campaign on the workability and characterization of various ceramic foams
for the previous mentioned industrial application. grinding and drilling strategies have been applied in order to verify the possibility to effectively
process the materials under investigation.

© 2020
© 2020The TheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. Ltd.
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This anopen
openaccess
access article
article under
under the BY-NC-ND
the CC CC BY-NC-ND licenselicense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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Peer-review underresponsibility
responsibility of of
thethe scientific
scientific committee
committee of 23rd
of the the 23rd International
International Conference
Conference on Material
on Material Forming.
Forming.

Keywords: Ceramic foams; machinability; foam filters

1. Introduction requiring the need of other systems such as filters for both
exogenous and indigenous inclusions removal [1].
Non-metallic inclusions are particles present in all metals Filtration of the liquid metal has then become a common
and influence their deformation properties and final product practice during the casting process for both ferrous and non-
quality depending on size, shape distribution and quantity [1, 2, ferrous alloy casting. The process prevents the degradation of
3]. Thus, the occurrence of these inclusions is considered one the metal by separating solid particles (captured on the filter)
of the main causes of defects within the context of casting from the melt (the liquid phase passing through the filter)
process. In fact, the thermal and mechanical properties improving the surface finish, pressure tightness and mechanical
mismatch between the inclusions and the base metal, result in properties of castings.
formation of blisters, slivers and internal cracks, acting as Withdrawing non-metallic inclusions from molten metals in
discontinuities within the metallic matrix. Thus, the working foundry industry can be done with various types of ceramic
life of the final component results compromised especially filters such as honeycomb structures or open porous foams; the
when the particles reach a critical size leading to the premature latter are considered the most efficient ones because of their
part failure [4, 5]. higher surface area for trapping particles[1]. Ceramic foam
Therefore, the quality standards of casting products are components for molten metal filtration should have: suitable
becoming stricter, trying to avoid the formation of inclusions refractoriness (according to the metal being processed), good
during casting. However, dimensioned runner bars are not creep and thermal-shock resistance, reasonable mechanical
sufficient to retain enough slag and suspended reaction, strength, low molten metal wetting, high functional porosity,
2351-9789 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an©open
2351-9789 access
2020 The article
Authors. under by
Published theElsevier
CC BY-NC-ND
Ltd. license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
This is an openunder responsibility
access article of the
under the CC scientific
BY-NC-ND committee
license of the 23rd International Conference on Material Forming.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
10.1016/j.promfg.2020.04.345
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 23rd International Conference on Material Forming.
494 Giovanna Rotella et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 493–497
2 Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000

high chemical affinity with the inclusions to be removed, As a first machinability trial, grinding tests have been
erosion and corrosion resistance, low specific heat capacity. performed at 0.01 mm depth of grinding and 35 m/s speed (200
Furthermore, it is important for the production method to be mm diameter) with a corundum-based grinding wheel provided
cheap and easy to perform. by TIAC s.r.l. (product code TBA 46 H 14 VSP). In particular,
Also, the use of filters enables the correction of metal flow the wheel structure is classified as soft high-porous vitrified
from turbulent to laminar reducing the risk of oxidation and with medium grain size (Figure 2a). As specified by the
formation of cavities [6]. Thus, an efficient mold filling and manufacturer, the grinding grain size are of about 390 m
improved surface can be more easily achieved.
Filter material changes according to the molten metal: steel Table 1. ceramic foams used for the experimental campaign.
and iron are commonly filtered using zirconia and silicon Element Vukopor S Vukopor A Vukopor HT
carbide based filters, while aluminum and other non-ferrous SiC 65.0 % - -
alloys are processed by alumina based ones [7]. Al2O3 15.0 % 84.0 % 1.5 %
Most filters consist of open-cell ceramic foams produced via
ZrO2 - - 92.0 %
the replica process or direct foaming [7]. In this work ceramic
SiO2 17.0 % 14.0 % 0.3 %
foam filters are industrially produced by impregnation of
polyurethane foams with a viscous slurry, the excess material is MgO - 0.8 % 2.5 %
removed from the pores by squeezing the samples through Other 3.0 % 1.2 % 3.7 %
rollers [8]. Afterwards, the organic binding agent is carbonized
by thermal treatment. Such thermal process is undertaken at The total thickness of the removed material was 0.5 mm.
reducing atmosphere to prevent oxidation of the carbonaceous Micrographs of the as received and ground samples have been
fraction. taken in order to verify the surface characteristics prior and
It is a common practice to adjust the shape of the polymer after machining.
precursor foam [9] or the green (unsintered) state foam [10] in In a second phase, drilling tests have been performed using
order to obtain different filter configurations. Although quite a diamond-impregnated core bit with a diameter of 6.4 mm
widespread, the abovementioned manufacturing methods lead (Figure 2b) and a diamond grit size ranging between 64 µm and
to problems whenever a particularly complex shape of the foam 122 µm.
is requested. In fact, failure can occur during processing stages Therefore, preliminary drilling tests (through-hole) have
[7] and also inhomogeneous shrinkage while sintering can take been performed to choose a suitable set of process parameters.
place [12]. Thus, lubricant-assisted drilling tests with a spindle speed and
Even though literature concerning both conventional and a feed rate of 4000 rpm and 1 mm/min respectively have been
non-conventional machining of industrial bulk ceramics exists carried out.
[13], less common are publications regarding machining of
sintered ceramic foams. For example, it has been found that
abrasive diamond wire can successfully cut silicon carbide,
zirconia and zirconia toughened alumina [14]. Furthermore, a
little difference in strength has been verified between ceramics
foams cut green and after firing [15], suggesting that flaws
introduced in not green cutting affect the strength to a negligible
extent.
This work presents a preliminary study on the workability of
three ceramic foams in sintered state, used as filters for ferrous
and non-ferrous metals in foundry industry. The aim is to
investigate the possibility to reach more complex shapes with
respect to commercially available ones improving filter
properties in terms of efficiency and capability to control the
molten metal flow.

2. Materials and Methods

The materials under investigation are cylindrical ceramic
foams with a diameter of 30 mm, height of 15 mm and a pore
density of 30 ppi. Their chemical composition is reported in
Table 1. Samples have been provided by Lanik s.r.o., product
codes are Vukopor HT, Vukopor A and Vukopor S for ZrO2,
Al2O3 and SiC based foams respectively. Figure 1 reports the as
received specimens.
The foams consist of a network of randomly-oriented
dodecahedral-shaped cells interconnected through struts.
Fig. 1. As received (a) SiC, (b) Al2O3 and (c) ZrO2.
After machining, the samples have been analyzed under an
optical microscope and a Scanning Electron Microscope (at a
voltage of 20 kV) in order to analyze the surface characteristics
prior and after processing. Furthermore, micrographs of the
used tools have been taken to analyze the wear during
investigated processes.
 Giovanna Rotella et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 493–497 495
Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000 3

3. Results Figure 3 reports the micrographs of the machined samples

while Figure 4 shows the closeup view of the sectioned holes.
3.1. Grinding A fresh drill bit has been used for each sample to avoid
undesired effects of the worn tool on the surface integrity.
Figure 3 compares surfaces of as-received and ground The images highlight different surface integrity for the three
ceramic foams while Figure 4 reports the micrographs of the investigated materials. In particular, The ZrO2 foam seemed to
ground ceramic foams. It is possible to note that the grinding be the most affected in terms of hole irregularities.
strategy was able to properly machine the foams, even though
being more critical for the Al2O3 based foam, due to the affinity
of the grinding wheel and the foam itself.
The machining marks are evident on all the selected samples,
together with the triangular-shaped hollow holes into the
ligaments, peculiar to the production method. In fact, the
ceramic foams used in this study were produced using open-cell
polyurethane foam as templates. The ceramic slurry was coated
to the polyurethane foam and fired in a kiln. The polyurethane
foam was burned out during the firing, leaving the triangular
shaped hollow hole inside each of the ligaments. The close-up
view of the cut surface, as illustrated in Fig. 2(g)(h)(i), shows
the porosity of the original material and the grinding marks.

Fig. 3. (a) Machined SiC, (b) Al2O3 and (c) ZrO2.

In order to understand the workability of the materials used

for the foams, it has been qualitatively assessed by evaluating
the brittleness as suggested by Boccaccini [16].

Fig. 2. Micrographs and SEM images of (a)(d)(g) SiC, (b)(e)(h) Al2O3 and
(c)(f)(i) ZrO2 after grinding.

Also, from Fig. 2 it is possible to see how the same

parameters affect differently the three ceramic foams surfaces.
In fact, the grinding marks are more evident for Al2O3 samples
while the smoother surface is that of the ZrO2 even though
small pits produced by microfracture can be also detected.
From SEM micrograph of the ground surfaces it can be seen
that the machined surface contains grooves produced by micro
cutting with small spalling, indicating the presence of brittle Fig. 4. Micrographs and SEM images of (a)(d)(g) SiC, (b)(e)(h) Al2O3 and
fracture during chipping. (c)(f)(i) ZrO2 cross sections after drilling.
Furthermore, there was very little evidence of pull-out of
individual grains on the grinding wheel surface. In his work, the brittleness index B of a material is proposed
as a parameter for estimating its machinability.
In particular, as proposed by Lawn and Marshall [17], B can
3.2. Drilling be estimated as reported in eq. 1:

The drilling tests were performed with the same drilling 𝐻𝐻

𝐵𝐵 = 𝐾𝐾 (1)
parameters for all the ceramic foams under investigation. 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼
496 Giovanna Rotella et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 47 (2020) 493–497
4 Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2019) 000–000
Where H is the material Vickers hardness and KIc the
fracture toughness of the material.
According to this calculation, Boccaccini [16] demonstrated
that there is a correlation between the brittleness and the
machinability of a material.
In particular, he concluded that higher brittleness can be
related to a poorer machined surface. However, the materials
under investigations were bulk ceramics. The B index
estimated for the foams investigated herein demonstrated the
lower brittleness index for the ZrO2 (Table 2) and the higher
for the SiC. Thus, it was reasonable to expect the better surface
quality for the ZrO2. This statement is confirmed by the
grinding results (Fig. 2) where the machined surfaces highlight
a better surface quality for ZrO2 while, for the used cutting
parameters, it resulted to have the worst surface quality during
the drilling process (Fig. 4).
Table 2. Average brittleness index calculated from literature data.
Ceramic Foam B [µm-1/2]
SiC 0.9
Al2O3 0.4
ZrO2 0.1
The results highlight the importance of the process
parameters to properly machine the foams. In particular, it is
not possible to imply that the lower brittleness index
necessarily corresponds to the best resulting surface integrity.
3.3. Tool wear
The grinding and drilling tests were performed with a fresh
tool for each foam sample (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5. (a) fresh and (b) worn drill bit; (c) fresh and (d)worn grinding wheel.
This choice was made in order to distinguish the influence
of the process parameters and isolate the effect of the tool wear.
Thus, the micrographs of the tools prior and after grinding and
drilling process were taken in order to verify the presence of
wear at the end of the process. As shown in Figure 5, it is
possible to see that significant diamonds pull out was detected
after the drilling process and also the grinding wheel resulted
worn out after cycles of about 10 grinding processes.
Thus, it is possible to state that the wear rate of such tools is
high so that the process needs to be accurately designed for
machining the investigated ceramic foams.
4. Conclusions
This work presents a first attempt to machine ceramic foams
used as molten metal filter in the foundry industry. The
preliminary work highlights that it is possible to ground the
foams in order to machine them and the drilling process points
out that it is possible to shape such ceramics to optimize their
shape (according to the material and process configuration)
and, consequently, improving the process efficiency and the
product final quality.
However, the preliminary work presented, also highlights
the need to properly select process parameters able to machine
the samples and reduce the wear rate, which represents a
significant drawback of the analysed process.
Furthermore, the future work will include the machining of
the filters to optimize the filtering process in terms of filter
efficiency, flow control and filter endurance.
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