Structure Properties Relationship Studies of Vinyl Ester Hybrid Syntactic Foam

Syntactic foam is the porous composite produced by mixing prefabricated hollow spherical particle into the matrix. Syntactic foams are used as energy absorption sandwich core for several applications like marine, automotive, and aerospace. In this work, low density hollow glass microspheres are hybridized with fly ash cenosphere in Bisphenol-A epoxy-based vinyl ester matrix. Hybrid syntactic foams is created with 60% total filler content. Within these hybrid systems internal composition of two fillers were varied in a step of 25 vol% with respect to each other. Hybrid syntactic foams are prepared by the hand lay-up (molding) method. The physical characterization parameter contains density and matrix porosity whereas tensile, quasi-static compression, flexural (3-point bending), Izod impact, and micro Vickers hardness are grouped as mechanical characterization parameters. Scanning electron microscopy was performed on fractured surfaces to examine deformation and fracture mechanisms related with each loading condition.