Methane and ethane are the main components of natural gas and coal bed gas in some regions of China, and the presence of ethane further exacerbates the risk of explosions, posing significant safety challenges during the production, storage, transportation, and use of natural gas. This study utilizes an self-constructed small-size experimental platform to investigate the suppression effect of nickel foam on the explosion of methane/ethane mixture in explosion tubes. The results show that nickel foam has two different effects on the methane/ethane flame: promotion and suppression. When the explosion flame quenching fails, the explosion is more violent, the flame propagation velocity and the peak explosion overpressure are both increased, and the peak velocity, the peak pressure, appear at the second wave; when the explosion flame quenching successfully, the flame propagation velocity peak and the explosion overpressure peak are attenuated, and the velocity peak and pressure peak appear in the first wave. 40PPI nickel foam has the best effect on methane/ethane mixture explosion suppression.