ABSTRACT
Composite materials are the most advanced and adaptable engineering materials known to man. In load-bearing, or structural, applications, composites in most cases comprise a bulk phase enclosing a fibrous reinforcing phase; in conventional terminology one talks of matrix and reinforcement. Probably the most common reason why polymer composites are used in structural applications is that they offer a given property, often stiffness, at a lower weight than the competition, which most of the time is a metal, but sometimes also plastic, wood, or concrete. The fiberglass, or glassfiber, boat was the first large-scale application of composites and the marine industry is still one of the major consumers of composites. Composites are also much used in civilian aircraft applications, but introductions of new composite components are for safety reasons considerably more cautious. Composites are particularly well suited to applications where the primary load case is pressure.
