US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Development of Zn-based syntactic composite foams for high energy absorption applications

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This project supports a cooperative research effort by Dr. Nikhil Gupta, Polytechnic University of New York with Dr. Atef Daoud, Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, Helwan, Egypt. They will study "Casting and Characterizations of Zn alloy Based Composite Foams for High Energy Absorption". The goal of the project is to develop light-weight and low-cost energy absorbing foams that are useful in a variety of industrial applications. These foams will be manufactured using fly ash, thereby recycling an industrial waste material while also reducing cost. The study will focus on developing a low cost synthesis method for Zn-alloy composite foam, characterizing the synthesized composites for a wide variety of loading conditions and applications, and studying the failure mechanisms. The high density of Zn-alloys is a limitation in several significant applications, so the development of lightweight composite foams will help broaden the applications for these materials. The use of fly ash cenospheres as hollow particles will provide a valuable mechanism to use this industrial waste material and also reduce the cost of the composite. The synthesis work will be led by the Egyptian team, working on producing composites containing high volume fraction of fly ash cenospheres (up to 50% in volume). The characterization will be led by the American team and will include compressive, tensile, vibration, impact, and high strain rate compressive testing of materials. Numerical simulations will be conducted on the composite foam microstructure to obtain an estimate of the mechanical properties. Both groups have complementary expertise and facilities to help ensure the effectiveness of this collaboration. The key intellectual merits of the project include development of lightweight Zn-alloy composites, understanding of mechanical properties of Zn-alloy composites and their strain rate sensitivity, and knowledge of failure mechanisms of these composite foams. It is potentially very valuable to develop a low cost material that is also lightweight enough for many industrial applications.This project's broader impacts include the cross cultural exchange and intellectual development produced by bringing the complementary expertise of these two teams from two countries together. The training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as junior scientists on both teams will be very valuable. The U.S. team will also integrate an education component with the research, building upon existing collaborations to develop a k-12 educational video, and both teams will ensure a wide dissemination of the research results. This project is funded through the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund Program. Support for the U.S. side of these cooperative projects is provided to the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of State. The Egyptian Government provides support for the Egyptian side of the collaboration.