The MTEC research team has developed a new technology for producing an aluminium foam domestically with a low manufacturing cost and required structures. Expensive raw materials used for foaming in other manufacturing technologies has been replaced with template balls developed by the research team to create cavities in aluminium foam during production. The template balls with high temperature resistance, good water solubility, low cost and spherical shaping ability using available pellet machines get rid of the structural limitations found in other foam materials, such as non-uniform pore distribution and uncontrolled pore sizes. Arrangement of template balls with desirable sizes also allows structure of aluminium foam to be tailor-made, which is impossible by other production processes, such as different pore size within a foam material, pore-filled with some material at particular or whole area of the foam material, complex foam shape and different pore surface roughness. The aluminium foam produced by this technology is 10–128% cheaper than those available in the global market.

Drive Passion Co, Ltd. has been licensed our technology for commercialization since September 2019.