Building a train from a foam sandwich

The Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools & Forming Technology has produced a demonstration high speed train cab assembled from aluminium foam components, to highlight the potential applications of the strong but lightweight material.

The aluminium foam material comprises a metal sandwich, with top and bottom external layers separated by a core which has been heat treated to produce a low-density foam layer with a rigid sponge-like structure. The core and external layers are part of the same metal components, and so will not separate.