First, I apologize if this is in the wrong section. This might be considered engineering. I just assumed material science was chemistry.

 

My main questions are about the material "metal foam".

I'm curious about it's structure and physical properties.

Seeing as metal foam is just a metal like copper/aluminum, with gas introduced to it while it's a liquid, does the final product still have the same structure as aluminum/copper?

 

Like, would it be crystalline still? body center cubic?

Would it still be metallic bonding?

And how would you characterize something like this? Microscopy?

 

There isn't really that much information on metal foam to assist me. I'm not sure if it's just the same metal, with holes, or if it's an entirely new material.

 

Like would it be body center cubic, or etc.
How would metal foam be considered bonded? Metallic?
And finally, how would you characterize it?
microscopy?

I'm not intimately familiar with the subject, but reading the Wiki article on metal foams I see little to suggest they are anything more than structural in nature. That is, the chemical nature of a metal foam is the same as for the non-foamed metal. I do however see they exhibit some different thermal properties than solid metals.

 

As to microscopy, that would just depend on the size of the cavities. OK?

 

metallic foam @ Wiki: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_foam

 

...Metallic foams typically retain some physical properties of their base material. Foam made from non-flammable metal will remain non-flammable and the foam is generally recyclable back to its base material. Coefficient of thermal expansion will also remain similar while thermal conductivity will likely be reduced.[1] ...

I've seen a few projects done with it. From everything people have said you machine as you would conventional metal of that type.

 

Most common one I've seen mentioned is Aluminum Foam. The seller's page has pretty decent technical specs.

How useful would something like metal foam be for fractional distillation?