Copper, bronze and 316L stainless

Custom metal foam

Open-cell copper, bronze and stainless steel foam with the pore size, density and outer shape you specify. Printed, debound and sintered to a full metallurgical bond.

Quote a custom metal foam part Order samples

Sintered copper and bronze metal foam parts printed by viscous thread printing

Grades

Available materials

Copper (Cu): High thermal and electrical conductivity for cold plates, heat exchangers and vapor chambers.
Bronze (CuSn): Lower sintering temperature and good wear behavior for filters, bearings and acoustic parts.
316L stainless: Porous stainless structures for corrosive environments, fluid handling and medical device development.
17-4 PH stainless: Higher strength stainless foam, available on request.

Properties

Typical property ranges

Typical copper foam ranges. Values depend on density and lattice; we report measured values with each build.
Property	Range
Density	200 – 900 kg/m³
Compressive strength	5 – 25 MPa
Elastic modulus	0.8 – 8 GPa
Thermal conductivity	40 – 180 W/m·K

Examples

Printed custom metal foam parts

Metal foam process: print green part, debind to brown part, sinter in kiln, clean finished part — Print → debind → sinter → clean

Copper foam cylinder after sintering and after machining, 20 mm scale bar — Post-sinter vs. machined copper foam, 20 mm scale

Stress-strain compression curves comparing VTP and rectilinear copper foams — Compression: VTP vs. rectilinear copper foam

Close-up micrographs of sintered VTP metal foam struts and coils — Sintered strut and coil structure

Applications

Where custom metal foam is used

Thermal managementHigh-surface-area copper foam for cold plates, heat exchangers and vapor chambers.Energy absorptionGraded-density cores that dissipate impact energy at a specified crush stress.Medical devicesPorous stainless structures and graded-stiffness foams for device development.Research and soft roboticsControlled-porosity specimens and graded soft-robotic structures, with build data.

Send us a part to quote

Upload an STL for an instant budgetary estimate, or describe the problem and target properties and we will propose a structure. Reviewed quotes go out within two business days.

Get a quote Talk to an engineer

Prefer email? miske@foaminloops.com or brett@foaminloops.com