COMPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY SYNTACTIC FOAM

The compressive mechanical properties of epoxy syntactic foam reinforced with hollow glass microspheres are studied by quasi-static compression test s. Some predicting formulae of Young’s modulus and yieldst rength of syntactic foam are proposed based on the result s of composite mechanics. In addition , the failure mechanism of syntactic foam is investigated by macroscopic and microscopic observation of f ractured specimens. The result s show that the deformation characteristics of syntactic foams are very similar to those of plain foams duringcompression. The syntactic foam is yielded when the st rain reaches about 2 % and it is collap sed when the st rain islarger than 30 %. Furthermore , the Young’s modulus and yield st rength of syntactic foam are decreased with thedecrease of density of material , and the predicted result s of formulae are basically in agreement with the experimental data. The macroscopic and microscopic observation of f ractured specimens indicates that the main failure mode iselasto-plastic collap se caused by shear.