Metal foam handles heat better than steel

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A new study from North Carolina State University researchers finds that novel light-weight composite metal foams (CMFs) are significantly more effective at insulating against high heat than the conventional base metals and alloys that they're made of, such as steel. The finding means the CMF is especially promising for use in storing and transporting nuclear material, hazardous materials, explosives and other heat-sensitive materials, as well as for space exploration.
The composite metal foam consists of metallic hollow spheres - made of materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel or titanium - embedded in a metallic matrix made of steel, aluminum or metallic alloys.
Researchers have developed two technologies for manufacturing CMFs. One is based on casting a low melting point matrix material, such as aluminum, around hollow spheres made of a material with a higher melting point, such as steel. This creates aluminum-steel CMFs, for example. The other technique is based on sintering, or baking, the matrix powder around prefabricated hollow spheres. This creates CMFs such as steel-steel, which consist of steel hollow spheres in a steel matrix.
In one test, researchers exposed samples of 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch steel-steel CMF that were 0.75 inches thick to a fire with an average flame temperature of 800 degrees Celsius for a period of 30 minutes on one side, and monitored the material to see how long it would take for the heat to reach the opposite side of the sample. For a piece of bulk stainless steel with the same dimensions as the CMF sample, it took only four minutes to reach 800 degrees Celsius through the entire thickness of the sample. But it took eight minutes for the steel-steel CMF to reach the same temperature.

http://www.lifeyes.com/articles/1055/20160329/study-finds-metal-foam-handles-heat-better-steel.htm
 
Are metal foams a new invention? I thought they'd been around for at least a decade. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have considered the idea.
 
If in vacuum, it is hard to beat layers of krinkled metal foils. They touch each others very little so radiative transfer domintes the conduction and it is easy to model that.
 
Here's the demonstration how new metal foam armor could disintegrate bullets on contact.


New armor can be created for war vehicles, such as tanks, or heavily used protective vehicles, such as those used in transporting large amounts of money. The best part is that the metal foam armor doesn’t contain any lead, making it extremely safe to be used in body armor and biological systems.
This metal foam has several uses aside from disintegrating an armor-piercing bullet on contact. It is also able to take twice as much heat as the individual components, as mentioned in OP, and can block extremely dangerous radiation. The radiation the foam can be used to transport or block includes X-rays, gamma rays, and neutrons.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2979274/new-metal-foam-armor-can-disintegrate-bullets-on-contact-video/
 
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