A phenomenological approach to yield strength in nanoporous metal foams

This work discusses a phenomenological model enabling the estimation of yield strength for nanoporous metal foams. A regular lattice of relatively massive cubic junctions joining six thick ligaments with square cross section is used to describe the foam structure. The characteristic lengths of ligaments and nodes are estimated from experimental data. The yield strength of the structure is related to the plastic moment of individual ligaments. Model predictions are in fairly good agreement with experimental findings.