Composite Materials

Abstract

Since the publication of the second edition of this book, there has been a spate of activity in the field of composites, in the academia as well as in the industry. The industrial activity, in particular, has been led by the large-scale use of composites by aerospace companies, mainly Boeing and Airbus. It would not be far off the mark to say that the extensive use of carbon fiber/epoxy resin composites in Boeing 787 aircraft and a fairly large use of composites in Airbus’s A 380 aircraft represent a paradigm shift. Boeing 787 has composites in the fuselage, windows, wings, tails, stabilizers, etc., resulting in 50% in composites by weight. Neverthe- less, it should be pointed out that in reality, the extensive use of composites in aircraft is a culmination of a series of earlier steps over the decades since mid-1960s. Besides the large-scale applications in the aerospace industry, there have been impressive developments in other fields such as automotive, sporting goods, super- conductivity, etc.