Abstract: Aiming at the localization of deep?sea solid buoyancy materials， epoxy resin/hollow glass microsphere （HGMs） composites were prepared by using independently developed casting molding， compression molding， curing with pressure， vacuum tamping， and isostatic pressing methods with a domestic produced HGMs （H25HS） as a raw material at volume fractions of 60 %~75 %. The density， compressive strength， and hydrostatic resistance of the as?prepared composites were comparatively investigated. The results indicated that when the volume fraction of H25HS was below 68 %， casting molding was a suitable molding method， with which a solid buoyancy material with a safe?using depth of more than 6 000 m and a density of less than 0.58 g/cm3 was obtained. When the volume fraction of H25HS was 68 %~70 %， vacuum tamping and isostatic pressing were the optimal methods to obtain a solid buoyancy material with a safe?using depth of 2 000~4 000 m and a density of 0.48~0.52 g/cm3.

Key words: hollow glass microsphere, buoyancy material, composite, epoxy resin, forming method