Year by year, more and more designers and engineers recognize the values of composites over other traditional materials like metal alloys, plastics etc. This is because composite material systems result in performance unattainable by their individual constituents. Fiber reinforced (FRP) products are more reliable, more durable, easy and safe to use, more economic to produce, and individually solve many problems and offer many benefits. As a result, manufacturers are abandoning old materials and fabricating methods and turn to composites. Composites are no longer just the privilege of aerospace, defence and high priced products. They are rapidly becoming a way of achieving high structural performance at a low cost. They are found in most of the cars we drive, in all busses and trains, boats, and recreation and sports equipment such as skis or canoes we use on the weekends.
Composites offer many advantages:
- Higher mechanical properties like strength and stiffness
- Lighter weight, higher performance
- Energy savings
- Durability, fatigue resistance and longer service life
- Impact resistance
- Dimensional stability
- Anisotropic properties
- Good chemical properties, corrosion resistance
- Fire retardance
- High temperature service
- Sevier environment outdoor service
- Low maintenance requirements
- Low thermal conductivity
- Low or custom thermal expansion
- Tailored energy conductivity, (e.g. can be used to amplify or dump vibration)
- Tailored transparency to radio frequency (reflection or dumping properties)
- Tailored electric properties (insulation or conduction capability)
- Tailored electromagnetic transparency
- Tailored properties make composite products irreplaceable for both telecommunication and stealth technologies
- Flexible, tailor design, part consolidation and freedom of shape
- Combination of many materials and inserts
- Lower capital investment for FRP manufacturing facilities
- FRP products are simpler, having fewer and larger parts
- Relatively low energy consumption to produce raw materials