ABSTRACT
Pre-mould processing for syntactic foams made of starch and ceramic hollow
microspheres was studied. A statistical model to relate various parameters such as
volume expansion rate (VER) of initial bulk volume of microspheres (IBVMS),
microsphere size, microsphere volume fractions, minimum inter-microsphere distance
(MID), and mixing ratio of microspheres was developed for theoretical relations. The
statistical model consists of cubic cells which can optionally be simple cubic (SC) or
face centred cubic (FCC) or body centred cubic (BCC) cells. The theoretical relations
were verified with experimental/ numerical data for various mixtures of microspheres
and found to be capable of predicting effects of microsphere size and mixture ratio of
microsphere size groups on VER under various conditions arising from starch content
in binder and IBVMS.