Effect of hollow beads content in aluminum oxide hollow beads reinforced epoxy composites on mechanical and energy absorption properties of the composites

Abstract Aluminum oxide hollow microbeads/epoxy resin composite is a kind of epoxy resin‐based multi‐porous energy‐absorbing material. This study improved the brittleness and toughness of epoxy resin. Adding hollow aluminum oxide microbeads with different mass fractions increased the energy absorption capacity. Quasi‐static compression tests were carried out at room temperature to test the compression properties of epoxy resin/hollow microbead composites. The composites′ energy absorption properties and energy absorption efficiency were analyzed and calculated using the obtained compression curves. The fracture characteristics and microscopic morphology of the composite specimens were observed by scanning electron microscopy. It was found that aluminum oxide hollow microbeads, as reinforcement material, can effectively improve the brittleness and yield strength of epoxy resin materials and enhance the energy absorption performance and energy absorption efficiency of composite materials. With the increase in the mass fraction of hollow microbeads, the energy absorption performance of the composite material first increases and then decreases. Its performance is the most significant when the mass fraction of aluminum oxide hollow microbeads is 10 %.