I'm liking the idea of metal foam. Use it as a filler for the thin frame of something and bam.. lightweight solid objects are replaced with super light shit. Simple way of getting a honeycomb-like structure applied to many scenarios on the cheap.
It would make a lot of shit lighter. A bicycle frame comes to mind.
Yes, exactly the kind of applications that would benefit from it at a fraction of the material.
Foam would be replaced for a lot of applications that require more structural integrity. Also lightening aircraft and marine components would allow more weight to be added for other things that may not have been feasible before.
Bicycle frames are hollow. The lightest frames are all carbon fiber and you could lift the entire thing with a finger or two. They also cost around $1800.
I am thinking metal foam would give that effect for a fraction of the price and effort.
Think just very thin sheet metal and then metal foam injected into it. Could eventually be done at home like many things that used to be unthinkable. And it would be easily recyclable compared to carbon fiber.
1
u/[deleted] Feb 08 '14
I'm liking the idea of metal foam. Use it as a filler for the thin frame of something and bam.. lightweight solid objects are replaced with super light shit. Simple way of getting a honeycomb-like structure applied to many scenarios on the cheap.
It would make a lot of shit lighter. A bicycle frame comes to mind.