Processing and Characterization of Lightweight Syntactic Materials

Conventional composite materials, in which a matrix material is reinforced by particulates, whiskers, and/or continuous fibers, have long been of interest as potential materials solutions to engineering needs. Typically, the benefits of these reinforcements are observed for cases of tensile loading, with only minimal improvement for cases of compressive loading. As a result, recent attention has grown in the use of hollow spheres as a potential reinforcement in metallic systems.