You mean the whole thing is made of titanium or steel but with the topology of foam, and with a caliber-sized hole in the middle for the bullet? If that’s what you mean, well all that material, despite being porous, gets in the way of the gas, and so the path of least resistance for it is to follow the bullet out of the front. You want there to be lots of empty space with only the occasional obstruction (baffle) for the gas to freely flow into.

>>64697430
>but are there reasons other than price/difficulty as to why a monolithic suppressor made of sintered titanium or stainless steel wouldn't work ?

Not really. "Cost" is a huge driving force in the can market.
Metal foams have been tinkered with for cans, but it all comes back to cost of manufacture well before other issues.

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>>64697443
>the whole thing is made of titanium or steel but with the topology of foam, and with a caliber-sized hole in the middle for the bullet?
Yep precisely. You can control the pore size and structure so that it looks like this in the center and the pores get finer/tighter towards the outside walls.

>>64697462
Well imagine you have such a can. And it has a decibel reduction of x. Now transform this can into a conventional one. I.e. make the pores bigger until there’s no foam left and it’s just empty space. Now the internal volume is greater and there are no obstructions whatsoever impeding gas flow into the baffles. You can expect a decibel reduction of *at least* x, but likely quite a bit higher.

What do you think the benefit of a foam suppressor would be?

By the way, I think some people do use steel mesh inside their cans. I don’t remember what for, I want to say it’s for use with gel so the report is quieter, but I’m not sure.

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>>64697501
Mesh has been used for a very long time. Either wrapped around a center ported bleed tube, or as stacks of discs.
Here's a diagram of the well known OSS .22 silencer for the HighStandard HD/Military

>>64697430
that shit would get so dirty so fast

>>64697501
>>64697430
Some cans are close to what you are talking about, they are filled with nothing but scrap metal shavings.

You could probably get the effect you want by filling a tube with heavy steel wool, heating it in a kiln then using tongs to dip it in a crucible of molten brass then slowly pulling it out so the excess drips out. Drill out the center and you are good to go.

>>64697605
>Some cans are close to what you are talking about, they are filled with nothing but scrap metal shavings.

For a long time, one of the best .22 Ruger cans on the market was filled with what looked like shoe grommets. Just a ported barrel, an outer tube that matched the profile of the original heavy barrel, then a bunch of brass grommets.

Acoustic foam works by scattering the sound waves in all directions, thereby diffusing it. Suppressors work by redirecting and sequestering the noise into little compartments. Metal foam topology would likely impede this redirection, I think, and I don't think the bonus of diffusing the sound would make up for it.