ABSTRACT Interesting properties of metal foams such as light weight, good energy absorption and low thermal conductivity, have promoted the development of new processes to improve properties without sacrificing productivity. This study aims to verify the uniformity pore distribution in an aluminum alloy foam obtained by Casting - Dissolution Process, using a nondestructive analysis. In order to evaluate mechanical properties of a metal foam using computational numerical models, the use of a small reconstructed section of the sample representing an entire volume of metal foam, was validated. In conclusion, it was possible to determine that all parts of the sample have the equivalent superficial area and volume.

Se realizó una comparación entre tres histogramas de Unidades Hounsfield (HU) generados a partir de imágenes obtenidas por tomografía axial computarizada (TAC) en diferentes partes de los fémures de amputados transfemorales unilaterales (cuello de la cabeza femoral, metáfisis, diáfisis). Los resultados muestran que hay una diferencia estadística significativa (p-value<0,05) entre las HU, en consecuencia también en la densidad mineral de los huesos amputado y sano del mismo individuo. La diferencia demuestra que el uso de exoprótesis genera desmineralización ósea, la cual está relacionada con el fenómeno de stress shielding.

A comparison between the healthy bone and the amputated bone of twenty unilateral transfemoral amputees was done by generating three Hounsfiled Unit (HU) histograms at different parts of the femur (femoral head neck, metaphysis and diaphysis), based on images obtained by Computer Axial Tomography. The results show a significant statistical difference (p-value<0.05) of HU, which is reflected by the bone mineral density between the bones of amputated and healthy limb. These differences demonstrate that the exoprosthesis use, generates bone demoralization which is also related with stress shielding phenomenon.