ABSTRACT
Fibers are the basic load-bearing component in a fiber reinforced composite. They are often preassembled into various forms to facilitate the fabrication of composite parts. Discontinuous fiber (also referred to as chopped, staple, or short fibers) are often used for making low-cost composites from, for example, sheet molding compound or nonwoven mats. Fibers, filaments, yarns, tows, and rovings generally represent parallel bundles of continuous filaments. In some cases, the bundles may be slightly twisted to provide lateral cohesion. The fiber bundles may be used directly in composite fabrication such as by filament winding and pultrusion, or they may be further converted into other reinforcement forms such as prepregs and fabrics.
