Prediction of the elastic properties of syntactic perforated hollow sphere structures

This work investigated the elastic properties of a new type of hollow sphere structures. For this new type, the sphere shell is perforated by several holes in order to open the inner sphere volume for a matrix material. The effective elastic properties of syntactic (i.e. spheres completely embedded in a matrix) perforated hollow sphere structures in a primitive cubic (PC) arrangement of unit cell models are numerically evaluated for different hole diameters, matrix volume fractions and different base materials. The results are compared to typical configurations without perforation. In the scope of this paper, three-dimensional finite element analysis is used in order to investigate these unit cell models.

► Syntactic perforated hollow sphere structures are numerically investigated.
► Elastic properties, i.e. Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio are predicted.
► Syntactic configurations where the spheres are completely embedded in an epoxy matrix are investigated for the first time.