Abstract: “The neat and nanoclay polyurethane syntactic foams were prepared to investigate the effects of microballoons and nanoclay on their properties. The desired densities of all syntactic foams were 0.6 g/cc. The microballoon loadings filled in the neat syntactic foams were 3, 5, 7 and 9 wt%. All nanoclay syntactic foams contained 7 wt% microballoons. The nanoclay loadings used to produce the nanoclay syntactic foams were 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 wt%. The compressive properties and hardness of the syntactic foams were examined. It was found that the hardness and compressive strength of the neat syntactic foams significantly enhanced as increasing the microballoon contents. For the nanoclay syntactic foams, the compressive strength decreased with the incorporation of the nanoclay. Specific hardness of the syntactic foams was, however, enhanced by the addition of nanoclay.”

Keywords: polyurethane foams, syntactic foams, nanoclay, microballoons