Effect of Microsphere Content on Thermal Diffusivity Behavior of Hollow PMMA Microspheres/Unsaturated Polyester Syntactic Foams

In the present research, effects of PMMA microspheres on thermal diffusivity of unsaturated resin/PMMA microspheres have been investigated. Samples of syntactic foams containing 0% wt (neat resin), 5%wt and 10%wt of PMMA microspheres have been prepared. Density of the foams was measured according to ASTM D-792. Also, specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the samples were measured. The results showed that the density and thermal conductivity of samples was decreased drastically with microsphere content. However, specific heat capacity was slightly increased with increasing microsphere loading. Thermal diffusivity was calculated using the experimental data and it showed a diametric increase with increasing microsphere content. This leads to an improvement of thermal insulator behavior of the syntactic foam and also reduction of the time in which the materials are in thermal shock.