Materials
The core of the buoyancy element is manufactured from low density composite syntactic foam. The composite syntactic foam is produced by blending together pure syntactic foam and Minispheres or Macrospheres.
Pure Syntactic Foam is a mixture of base polymer system and hollow glass Microspheres.
Minispheres or Macrospheres are a larger fibre reinforced composite sphere, developed to reduce the pure syntactic foam density to provide additional buoyancy to the DRBM. The pure syntactic foam bonds the mini-macrospheres together and provides support to them when subjected to hydrostatic pressures.
The composite syntactic foam is encased within a durable external skin which is an integrally moulded, resin impregnated fibre reinforced skin. In addition to giving rise to an element that is stiffer and therefore more resistant to bending, it provides a tough outer surface that provides excellent abrasion and impact resistance. This protects the underlying composite syntactic foam from damage during handling, assembly and installation.
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