Diffuse Interface Models for Metal Foams

B. Chinè[1], M. Monno[2], E. Repossi[3], M. Verani[3]
[1]Laboratorio MUSP Piacenza, Italy; ITCR, Esc. Ciencia e Ing. Materiales, Cartago, Costa Rica
[2]Laboratorio MUSP, Piacenza, Italy; Politecnico di Milano, Dip. Meccanica, Milano, Italy
[3]Politecnico di Milano, MOX-Dip. Matematica, Milano, Italy
Published in 2013

The foaming process of a metal is a complex operation which needs to be closely controlled in order to guarantee the wanted properties, by avoiding the formation of defects in the structure of the material. In this work we use COMSOL Multiphysics® version 4.3b and apply the diffuse interface methods of the phase field technique available in the CFD module.To analyze a practical case, foams represented by a number of bubbles moving in a laminar Poiseuille flow are chosen as tests and then simulated. The numerical results show that diffuse interface methods are effective to model this kind of complex phenomena and that fundamental mechanisms due to surface tension effects and disjoining pressure are well reproduced.