Quasi-static compressive properties and damage behavior of aluminum matrix syntactic composites with different diameters of glass cenospheres

Aluminum matrix syntactic composites have broad applications, including aerospace, transportation, military industries, and our daily life owing to lightweight and high energy absorption properties. However, its strength and energy absorption capacity still need improvement. In this study, we prepared an aluminum matrix syntactic composite with smaller diameters glass cenospheres. Due to the higher porosity of the glass cenospheres, the density of the syntactic composites ranged from 1.20–1.27 g cm−3, and the strength and energy absorption could reach up to 172.8 MPa and 75.3 MJ m−3, respectively. Combining finite element and in-situ digital image correlation results, the aluminum matrix syntactic composites with large diameter tend to form 45–90° cracks, resulting in a decrease in material strength with increasing glass cenospheres diameter. [Display omitted] •Aluminum matrix syntactic composites first reinforced with glass cenospheres with the diameter (15 μm) less than 20 μm.•Combination of experiments and simulations for obtaining the reasons of the damage behaviors of composites with glass cenospheres with different diameters.•Predictive equations for the peak stress of composites versus the diameter of glass cenospheres.•Aluminum matrix syntactic composites showing strength of 172.8 MPa and energy absorption capacity of 75.3 MJ m−3