Precipitation and grain growth in aluminum foams during annealing

Aluminum foams are important in many applications. However, the microstructural evolution inside the foam cells walls/ligaments has not yet been sufficiently studied. We propose measuring microstructure evolution in open-cell and closed-cell Al foams during an industrially relevant annealing protocol using phase-contrast and diffraction-contrast tomography (PCT and DCT, respectively). Such measurements will allow us to study the interaction between constituents of the microstructure and the macrostructure of the foams in 3D. In particular, we are interested in how precipitates in the foam—easily identifiable from PCT—interact with grain boundaries— located using DCT— during heat treatment.