Formulation Advancements in Hollow-Glass Microspheres Filled SMC

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of chemical process aids on surface quality, cross-link density and chemical process aids in hollow-glass microspheres filled Sheet Molded Composites (SMC). Published papers suggest that hollow-glass microspheres filled SMC can be produced with similar physical properties as standard calcium carbonate filled systems, with the exception of tensile and flex modulus[1][2]. Chemical process aids significantly improve standard SMC systems by increasing raw material interactions leading to improved physical properties. This paper investigates chemical process aids and divinylbenzene in a standard SMC formulation and the same formulation reformulated with hollow-glass microspheres. These formulations were then directly compared using automotive industry accepted test methods to quantify formulation differences. The primary benefit of using hollow-glass microspheres in SMC, for the automotive industry, is reducing the weight of SMC parts by up to 30%[3].