Syntactic foam articles and related methods

摘要

A method for making an article (22) of syntactic foam includes spreading a layer of a mixture including particulate resin and microballoons across a surface (18). At least a portion of the mixture is selectively heated (34) so as to cause the portion to assume a desired shape for at least part of the article. The heating is performed until the resin flows and wets the microballoons to form a solid mass. The method allows a finished part to be fabricated in a single sintering operation with little or no subsequent machining.