Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancements in X-ray CT Tool Chain for Tree Core Analysis
Published on: September 22, 2023
Using X-ray tomoscopy to explore the dynamics of foaming metal
Francisco García-Moreno1,2, Paul Hans Kamm3,4, Tillmann Robert Neu3,4
1Institute of Applied Materials, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109, Berlin, Germany. garcia-moreno@helmholtz-berlin.de.
Abstract:
The complex flow of liquid metal in evolving metallic foams is still poorly understood due to difficulties in studying hot and opaque systems. We apply X-ray tomoscopy -the continuous acquisition of tomographic (3D) images- to clarify key dynamic phenomena in liquid aluminium foam such as nucleation and growth, bubble rearrangements, liquid retraction, coalescence and the rupture of films. Each phenomenon takes place on a typical timescale which we cover by obtaining 208 full tomograms per second over a period of up to one minute. An additional data processing algorithm provides information on the 1 ms scale. Here we show that bubble coalescence is not only caused by gravity-induced drainage, as experiments under weightlessness show, and by stresses caused by foam growth, but also by local pressure peaks caused by the blowing agent. Moreover, details of foam expansion and phenomena such as rupture cascades and film thinning before rupture are quantified. These findings allow us to propose a way to obtain foams with smaller and more equally sized bubbles.
Related Concept Videos
X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...
Bonding in Metals
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....
Alkali Metals
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Properties of Transition Metals

