NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE ELASTIC BEHAVIOR OF SYN-CYCLE COMPOSITES BASED ON HOLLOW GLASS MICROSPHERES UNDER TENSION

Using the universal software package “Solid Works”, on the example of a cubic model of a composite based on hollow glass microspheres (HGM), numerical simulation of the elastic behavior of a syntactic material under uniaxial tension is carried out. The chosen computational model is a hollow thin-walled glass sphere placed in a polymer (epoxy) matrix of cubic shape. The model was calculated using the finite-element method in an elastic approach with boundary conditions defined by the used universal software system of 3D modeling of the “Solid Works” complex. The calculations made it possible to determine the longitudinal and transverse elastic strains for the model of a syntactic composite with different contents of the initial components and then to calculate the value of the elastic modulus and the Poisson's ratio under tension for these materials. Experimental verification of the calculations performed was carried out on samples of syntactic composites based on epoxy binder and HGM of type MC-ВП A9 2 gr. A size group of microspheres with a diameter of 50 to 70 microns was isolated from the initial HGM by sieving method. The average diameter of these microspheres was about 59 microns. On the basis of the microspheres selected in this way, samples of epoxy composites with different volume contents of components (30%, 40% and 50% HGM) were made and their actual elastic characteristics under tension were measured. The results of experiments to determine the elastic characteristics of syntactic composites correlate well with the calculations, especially for composites with a filling coefficient of 0.45–0.5 with hollow microspheres.