Introduction

Materials have such an influence on our lives that the historical periods of humankind have been dominated, and named, after materials. Over the last fifty years, composite materials, plastics, and ceramics have been the dominant emerging materials. The volume and number of applications of composite materials have grown steadily, penetrating and conquering new markets relentlessly. Most of us are all familiar with fiberglass boats and graphite sporting goods; possible applications of composite materials are limited only by the imagination of the individual. The main objective of this book is to help the reader develop the skills required to use composites for a given application, to select the best material, and to design the part. A brief description of composites is presented in Section 1.1 and thoroughly developed in the rest of this book.