Study On Molding And Properties Of Buoyancy Material Based On The Hollow Glass Microspheres

Solid buoyancy materials of hollow glass microspheres(HGM) filled epoxy resinwere manufactured，which has lower density，higher strength. The density of thecomposites is0.69g/cm3and its compressive strength is90MPa. In this paper, theeffects of hollow microspheres and polymer matrices on the properties of compositesare studied. The paper contains as follows.1. The effects of particles size of HGM，the volume fraction(Vf)，and themodifying of coupling agent on the properties of composites are studied. For thedensity, with the increasing of Vf, the density of the material is decreased gradually,but because of the limit of HGM’s own density，can only be reduced to a certaindegree. If the density wanted to be lower, need filling smaller density, larger particlesize glass microspheres. For the compressive strength, when Vf<30%, little effect ofVfon the strength was observed. When Vf>30%, if HGM is S38，as Vfincreased， thestrength decreased greatly；if HGM is S60HS，When30%<Vf<50%, the strengthincreased gradually with the increasing of Vf, but when Vf>50%, the strengthdecreased greatly as Vfincreased. Coupling agent KH-560can effectively improvethe interface adhesion of HGM and polymer matrices，thereby increasing the strengthof composites.2. The effects of resin and curing agent on the properties of buoyancy materialare systematically studied. The best content and curing conditions of curing agent850,IPDA and830are investigated. And the effects of different curing agent on theproperties of composites are also studied. And the effect of epoxy resin modified byEPECH on strength of composites is studied in accidence. It was found that thecompressive strength of buoyancy materials of higher strength matrices are higherthan those of lower strength matrices，but if the bonding strength and toughness ofmatices are not enough，the compressive strength of composites will be decreased in acertain degree. 3. Large diameter hollow ball of table tennis wrapped with buoyancy materialwere Manufactured，which has ideal properties，when the density is0.60g/cm3，thecompressive strength is80MPa.