ABSTRACT
Although the term composite historically meant any product made from a combination of two (or more) materials, the modern meaning is less broad in scope. In general a composite is manufactured in an attempt to obtain the best properties of two materials, or at least to capture a specific property of each material that is potentially better in the composite. It is also possible for the composite to have a particular property that neither component exhibited individually. According to Holmes and Just 1983 a true composite is where distinct materials are combined in a nonrandom manner to produce overall structural characteristics superior to those of the individual components. Although, in a very broad sense, products such as glazed ceramic tile, enameled metal, and ceramic-coated metal (e.g., thermal barrier coatings) could be considered composites, they will not be considered as such here. Only those materials where a substantial intermixing of the different materials exists on a microscopic scale will be considered composites.
