Microcellular aluminium? Child's play!

An innovation (patent pending) in the NaCl-based replication process for the manufacture of microcellular aluminium is presented that overcomes the limitations with the conventional method regarding large pore sizes (because large salt particles are often irregular in shape) and with large sample sizes (because of the long time that is then required for the dissolution step). The method uses a technique used by children to make hardenable modelling paste.