Influence of hybridizing fillers on mechanical properties of foam composite panel

Foam composite panels made from hybrid fillers are materials developed to have low density with high mechanical properties. This work focuses on improving the mechanical properties of epoxy-based foam composite panels with hybridized fillers by combining hollow glass microspheres (HGM) and nanoclay. The HGM content was varied from 1 wt.% to 3 wt.% in foam composites panel, while nanoclay content was varied from 1 wt.% to 5 wt.% in each of the HGM-filled series of foam composites panel, these foam composite panels were fabricated using a conventional resin casting method. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, impact strength, hardness, flexural strength of the prepared hybrid-filled foam composite panels were determined and compared with the neat epoxy. It was found that the hybrid-filled foam composite panels exhibited improved mechanical properties than the neat epoxy. These improved properties were because of excellent interfacial adhesion between the hybrid fillers and the matrix. The improved mechanical properties could suggest that this material may be suitable for application in industries where lightweight materials with good mechanical properties are required. This study showed a new area of synthetic foam development research by enhancing mechanical properties using hybrid-filled.