DU Juan;HUA Lei;DUAN Huiping
As a kind of special internal hollow spherical materials, the Hollow Glass Microspheres (HGM) have unique and excellent physical and chemical properties as compared with the traditional materials. In recent years, the HGMs have attracted widespread attentions. In this paper, the physical and chemical properties of hollow glass microspheres are discussed, and on this basis the applications of hollow glass microspheres as fillers in resin matrix composite materials, hydrogen storage materials, battery materials, drug carriers, insulation materials, reflective materials, buoyant materials, explosives and cement products are overviewed. With special physical and chemical properties, such as low-density, high mobility and high strength, the hollow glass microspheres can improve the performance of the resin from various perspectives, which greatly extends the design and application fields of the resin-based composite materials; the hollow internal structure and the designable wall structure of hollow glass microspheres provide a wealth of reaction space, are the foundation for the applications in new energy materials and drug carriers; in addition, based on the excellent thermal performance, the high temperature resistant and anti-aging properties, the low-density, the high refractive index and the sensitized performance, the hollow glass microspheres are also widely used in the insulation materials, the reflective materials, the buoyant materials, the explosives, the cement products and other fields. Finally, the future development and the potential applications of hollow glass microspheres are commented.