Poisson's ratio of hollow particle filled composites

The present study is focused on the experimental measurement of the Poisson's ratio of glass hollow particle filled composites called syntactic foams. The effect of hollow particle wall thickness and volume fraction on the Poisson's ratio of the composites is investigated. Results show that the Poisson's ratio of the composites is lower than that of the neat vinyl ester resin used as the matrix material. Despite being a fundamental elastic constant, a reliable value of the Poisson's ratio of the various types of composites is not readily available. These experimental results can be useful in benchmarking available theoretical models and guiding modeling efforts on functionally graded composites. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.