Al foams are used to produce aluminium foam sandwiches (AFS) panels or other mechanical parts of complex shape, which are of great interest for many industrial applications. AFS panels with a core made of AlSi10 foam and the skins of AISI 316 steel have been prepared by in situ bonding process. To optimise the process conditions, a first set of experiments has been carried out to realise samples of reduced lab scale (20 × 20 mm2), then the AFS panels of pre-industrial size (100 × 100 mm2) have been produced. The steel-foam joints were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The performed examinations showed that the interface formed during the foaming was characterised by a good inter-diffusion of alloying elements, testifying the excellent quality of metallurgical joints. Furthermore, the pre-industrial panels exhibited the same characteristics of lab samples; therefore, it can be concluded that the scale-up process has been implemented successfully. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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