The term was originally coined by the Bakelite Company, in 1955, for their lightweight composites made of hollow phenolic microspheres bonded to a matrix of phenolic, epoxy, or polyester.
These materials were developed in early 1960s as improved buoyancy materials for marine applications. Other characteristics led these materials to aerospace and ground transportation vehicle applications.
Research on syntactic foams has recently been advanced by Nikhil Gupta.