The effect of epoxy and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) layers on physical and compression properties of macroballoons in syntactic foams was investigated. Epoxy mixture was used to coat on the surfaces of expended polystyrene (EPS) beads template, and the beads were cured to produced epoxy macroballoon (EM). The cured EM coat with NBR powders in order to form epoxy rubber macroballoon (ERM). Subsequently, the cured ERM was coated with epoxy mixture as the outermost layer on macroballoon to form epoxy rubber epoxy macroballoon (EREM). The EM, ERM, EREM were then filled into syntactic foam and post cured to ensure the shrinkage of EPS beads to produce hollow structures. Three syntactic foams with EM, ERM and EREM were characterized in terms of physical and compression properties, respectively. It was found that EREM exhibited the highest density and average wall thickness in syntactic foam. Overall, the inclusion of NBR powders as rubber coating of macroballoon with epoxy as the outermost layer resulted in improved compressive strength and toughness by absorbing energy with enhanced interfacial adhesion.
