Studies on compressive failure features in syntactic foam material

Syntactic foam made by mechanical mixing of glass hollow spheres in epoxy r esin matrix is characterized for compressive properties in the present stud y. Volume fraction of hollow spheres in the syntactic foam under investigat ion is kept at 67.8%. Effect of specimen aspect ratio on failure behavior a nd stress-strain curve of the material is highlighted. Considerable differe nces are noted in the macroscopic fracture features of the specimen and the stress-strain curve with the variation in specimen aspect ratio, although compressive yield strength values were within a narrow range. Post compress ion test scanning electron microscopic observations coupled with the macros copic observations taken during the test helped in explaining the deviation in specimen behavior and in gathering support for the proposed arguments. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.