{"id":5654,"date":"2025-02-18T03:41:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T03:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/metal-foam-to-revolutionize-space-travel\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T03:41:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T03:41:38","slug":"metal-foam-to-revolutionize-space-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/metal-foam-to-revolutionize-space-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Metal Foam to Revolutionize Space Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Introduction to Metal Foam<\/h2>\n<p>What&#8217;s as robust as steel, as light as aluminum, and capable of withstanding ballistic impact, fire, and radiation? The answer lies in Metal Foam, a revolutionary material that has been making waves in the scientific community.<\/p>\n<p>Over a decade ago, engineer Afsaneh Rabiei of North Carolina State University invented Composite Metal Foam (CMF), a material composed of hollow metal &#8220;bubbles&#8221; embedded in steel, titanium, aluminum, or other alloys. With its exceptionally strong and lightweight properties, CMF has the potential to be applied in a wide range of industries, from air and space travel to defense. After years of rigorous testing against ballistics, blasts, vibrations, radiation, and fire, Rabiei&#8217;s company, Advanced Materials Manufacturing, is <a href=\"https:\/\/advancemnm.com\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">officially ready<\/a> to start production.<\/p>\n<h2>Breakthroughs and Discoveries<\/h2>\n<p>Although it wasn&#8217;t the first metal foam ever invented, Rabiei claims her CMF is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/foamy-invention-could-save-energy-lives?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">strongest<\/a>. A 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0263822319312607\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> published in the journal <em>Composite Structures<\/em> demonstrated that vehicle armor made with steel-steel CMF stopped ball and armor-piercing .50 caliber rounds as efficiently as conventional steel, but at less than half its weight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CMF armor was less than half the weight of the rolled homogeneous steel armor needed to achieve the same level of protection,\u201d Rabiei, a co-author on the study, said in a North Carolina State University <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ncsu.edu\/2019\/06\/05\/metal-foam-stops-50-caliber\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>. \u201cIn other words, we were able to achieve significant weight savings\u2014which benefits vehicle performance and fuel efficiency\u2014without sacrificing protection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Steel Composite Metal Foam (CMF) sandwich armor stronger than solid steel but half the weight\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CxFpBR5j8Nc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><noscript><iframe title=\"Steel Composite Metal Foam (CMF) sandwich armor stronger than solid steel but half the weight\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CxFpBR5j8Nc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>Thermal Insulation and Radiation Shielding<\/h2>\n<p_Two years prior to the ballistic tests, Rabiei and her colleagues discovered that CMF insulates against heat far better than a solid sheet of the same metal. As explained in a 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S1290072916302605\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> published in the <em>International Journal of Thermal Sciences<\/em>, they exposed a piece of bulk stainless steel and a sample of CMF to a 1,472-degree Fahrenheit (800-degree Celsius) flame. The steel took four minutes to reach the same temperature, while the CMF took eight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe presence of air pockets inside CMF makes it so effective at blocking heat, mainly because heat travels more slowly through air than through metal,\u201d Rabiei explained in another university <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ncsu.edu\/2016\/03\/28\/rabiei-heat-2016\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>. This property of CMF could protect heat-sensitive materials, whether hazardous chemicals or vehicles carrying astronauts through space.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Steel Composite Metal Foam resist fire 6X better than same thickness solid steel but much lighter\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7sfLKYgGeHE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><noscript><iframe title=\"Steel Composite Metal Foam resist fire 6X better than same thickness solid steel but much lighter\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7sfLKYgGeHE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h2>Space Exploration and Radiation Protection<\/h2>\n<p>Rabiei revealed ten years ago that CMF is capable of shielding various forms of radiation. A 2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0969806X15300104\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> published in the journal <em>Radiation Physics and Chemistry<\/em> showed that CMF is effective at blocking X-rays and gamma rays, as well as neutron radiation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn short, CMFs hold promise for a variety of applications: from space exploration to shipping nuclear waste, explosives, and hazardous materials, to military and security applications and even cars, buses, and trains,\u201d Rabiei said in the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ncsu.edu\/2019\/06\/05\/metal-foam-stops-50-caliber\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> on the ballistic tests.<\/p>\n<h2>A Material with Endless Possibilities<\/h2>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another intriguing fact: what do metal foam and ancient Romans have in common? Both have enhanced previous inventions and applications. While the Romans took inventions from other civilizations and improved them, CMF takes applications of other materials and seemingly achieves them with less weight. It remains to be seen, however, if manufacturers will also be convinced of this promising material&#8217;s potential.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/how-super-strong-metal-foam-could-transform-space-travel-and-defense-2000562768\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to Metal Foam What&#8217;s as robust as steel, as light as aluminum, and capable of withstanding ballistic impact, fire, and radiation? The answer lies in Metal Foam, a revolutionary&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[1741,1742],"class_list":["post-5654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-engineering","tag-material-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/02\/metal-foam.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}