ABSTRACT
The concept and application of composite materials can be traced back to ancient history. For instance, a clay mixed with straw is one form of composite material. The main purpose of combining two or more constituent materials to form a composite is to generate a new material that has better overall properties than its constituents. The overall properties are influenced by the constituent materials, their distribution, and the interaction among them. Advanced composites can broadly be classified into three types: continuous fiber-reinforced composites, discontinuous fiber-reinforced composites and molecular composites. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals only with solid heterogeneous media composite materials.
