What are lightweight metal foam structures?
Duocel® Lightweight Structures are solid ligament, open cell foam structures, often with a solid component to increase strength and provide a flush interfacing surface. These structures offer exceptional strength-to-weight ratios and are fully customizable, making them ideal for applications where weight savings and mechanical performance are critical.
Why Choose Duocel® for Lightweight Structural Applications?
Duocel® foam stands out due to its unique combination of properties:
- High Strength-to-Weight Ratio: The open-cell structure ensures minimal weight without compromising structural integrity.
- Customizable Properties: Adjustable parameters like relative density and pore size allow tailoring of mechanical properties to specific application needs.
- Isotropic Behavior: Uniform properties in all directions ensure consistent performance under multidirectional loads.
- Thermal and Chemical Stability: Suitable for extreme environments, Duocel® maintains performance under high temperatures and in corrosive conditions.
- Integration Flexibility: Easily incorporated into assemblies through bonding, brazing, or mechanical fastening.
Applications of Duocel® Lightweight Structures
Duocel® foams are utilized in a wide range of applications where lightweight and high-performance materials are essential:
- Aerospace: Structural components, impact protection, and thermal management systems.
- Defense: Lightweight armor, blast mitigation structures, and structural panels.
- Industrial: Lightweight, high strength support structures are often built from foam sandwich panels. Particularly in high-temperature processing equipment and filtration systems.
- Space: Lightweight components, sensor protection, and micrometeorite protection can be implemented with radiation protection or thermal transfer in a single product!
Customization and Fabrication
ERG Aerospace offers Duocel® foams with customizable features to meet specific design requirements:
- Pore Size (PPI): Available in various pores per inch (PPI) to control permeability and surface area.
- Relative Density: Adjustable to balance weight and mechanical strength.
- Material Selection: Most support structures are built with aluminum foam and supporting panels
Why choose ERG?
ERG is a trusted leader in the design, development, and delivery of lightweight foam scructures for mission-critical applications. Backed by decades of engineering expertise, ERG leverages an in-house testing laboratory and extensive performance database to precisely tailor our foams properties to meet exact mechanical and application-specific requirements.
With over 50 years of experience producing high-quality Duocel® materials, ERG maintains rigorous standards and is certified to AS9100, ensuring consistent performance in the most demanding environments.
As a vertically integrated organization, ERG provides end-to-end solutions—from concept development through full-scale production—delivering responsive customer support and transforming innovative ideas into reliable, production-ready components.
Advantages
- Lightweight
- High strength-to-weight ratio
- Customizable strength
- Isotropic compression
- Resistant to harsh environments
Duocel
- Adjust relative density to control stress-strain behavior – Larger ligament cross section results in a stronger structure
- Custom shapes can control impact area
- Open celled structure significantly reduces unwanted rebound
- Easily integrates into an assembly/system
