Hollow Polyimide Microspheres

A shaped article composed of an aromatic polyimide has a hollow, essentially spherical structure and a particle size of about 100 to about 1500 microns a density of about 1 to about 6 pounds/cubic ft and a volume change of 1 to about 20 percent by a pressure treatment of 30 psi for 10 minutes at room temperature. A syntactic foam, made of a multiplicity of the shaped articles which are bonded together by a matrix resin to form an integral composite structure, has a density of about 3 to about 30 pounds/cubic ft and a compression strength 2 of about 100 to about 1400 pounds/sq in.