SBIR-STTR Award

A program is proposed to demonstrate that a syntactic foam can be produced having a density of less than 20 lbs, have a 7ft high compression modulus and low water absorption. Low density will be achieved by the fabrication and use of hollow thin-walled sintered reaction bonded silicon nitride (SRBSN) macrospheres having diameters up to 3O inches. The SRBSN macrospheres will be fabricated using slip cast rotational molding improved low-density crosslinkable polybutadiene NPED3 resin systems will be evaluated to achieve a syntactic foam with high compression modulus and low water absorption. Analytically evaluated results will be used to select materials and processes for the design of production methods for statistically controlled and optimized production syntactic foams.