ABSTRACT
There has been a noticeable change in choice of materials for various engineering applications in the last few decades. Composite materials, especially polymer composites, have replaced metals and alloys in a wide variety of elds such as automobiles, civil engineering, aerospace, medical, electronics, agricultural, and sports equipment. Conventional polymer matrix composites (PMCs) consist of synthetic bers such as glass, carbon, and aramid as reinforcement and petroleum-based synthetic polymers as matrix material. These polymers are either thermoplastics (such as polypropylene [PP], nylon, and polyvinyl chloride) or thermosets (such as epoxy, phenolic, and polyamide).
