Processing of Hollow Glass Microspheres (HGM) filled Epoxy Syntactic Foam Composites with improved Structural Characteristics

The objective of this work is to improve the structural characteristics of hollow glass microsphere (HGM) filled epoxy syntactic foam composites with little voids content and improved HGM dispersion in the composite. A modified degassing technique has been introduced during resin casting process of the HGM filled syntactic foam composites. The effect of HGM content volume fractions (5-25%) on the degassing techniques was examined. The syntactic foam composites were characterized by analysing structural morphology using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM), and density measurements (theoretical and experimental). Less than 5% void content has been achieved in this study. This resulted in improved tensile and dynamic mechanical properties (DMA).

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to improve the structural characteristics of epoxy syntactic foam composites filled with hollow glass microspheres by reducing void content and enhancing HGM dispersion. A modified degassing technique was introduced during resin casting, leading to less than 5% void content and improved tensile and dynamic mechanical properties. Analysis using SEM, TEM, and density measurements confirmed the success of the improved degassing technique.