Dynamic mechanical behaviors of epoxy resin/hollow polymeric microsphere composite foams under forced non-resonance and forced resonance

Abstract

Composite foams with 10–50 vol% hollow polymeric microspheres were prepared using bisphenol A epoxy resin and polyetheramine curing agent as the matrix. The results demonstrated that the density, hardness, and static mechanical properties of the epoxy resin/hollow polymer microsphere composite foams, as well as their dynamic mechanical properties under forced non-resonance, were similar to those of polymer/hollow glass microsphere composite foams. At 25°C and under 1–100 Hz forced resonance, the first-order and second-order resonance frequencies of the composite foams shifted to the low-frequency region as the volume fraction of hollow polymer microspheres increased. Meanwhile, the first-order and second-order loss factors of the as-prepared composite foams were improved by 41.7% and 103.3%, respectively, compared with the pure epoxy resin. Additionally, the first-order and second-order loss factors of the as-prepared composite foams reached a maximum at 40 vol% and 30 vol% hollow polymer microspheres, respectively. This research helps us to expand the application range of composite foam materials in damping research.

Effects of silane coupling agent modifications of hollow glass microspheres on syntactic foams with epoxy matrix

“…and are widely used to synthesize syntactic foams. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Hollow glass microspheres are microscale lightweight materials. Their main component is borosilicate, which is a lightweight material with a large specific surface area, stable chemical properties, high specific strength, and acoustic and thermal insulation.…”