Syntactic foam containing reinforced large inclusions

A syntactic foam, comprising:

• a polymer infusing matrix;
• a plurality of at least one of polymer beads and matrix cavities in one or more sizes distributed throughout the infusing matrix, each having a width of 0.5-50 mm and surrounded by a polymer reinforcing binder containing bead-covering microspheres, and each of the matrix cavities is partially occupied by a polymer particle;
• a quantity of interstitial microspheres distributed within the infusing matrix amongst the polymer beads or matrix cavities;
• and
• wherein the bead-covering microspheres have a size distribution of ±20 um or less.

A method of manufacturing a syntactic foam, comprising:

• coating a quantity of polymer beads with a polymer reinforcing binder to form binder-coated polymer beads containing a sorted quantity of bead-covering microspheres;
• allowing the reinforcing binder to cure or solidify in a manner resulting in a plurality of individual reinforced polymer beads;
• placing a quantity of the reinforced polymer beads in a mold;
• distributing a sorted quantity of interstitial microspheres throughout the reinforced polymer beads in the mold to obtain a powder bed;
• infusing the powder bed in the mold with a polymer infusing matrix;
• allowing the infusing matrix in the powder bed to cure of solidify in the mold, thereby resulting in the syntactic foam;
• and
• wherein the polymer beads are provided in one or more sizes each having a width of 0.5-50 mm, and the bead-covering microspheres have a size distribution of ±20 um or less.