Modern Composites - A Renascent Material System

Abstract

Modern composites constitute an important class of design-and weight-efficient structural materials that are encroaching every sphere of engineering applications . Superior directional properties , high specific strength and stiffiess properties.design tailoring , ease of manufacturing complex shapes as well as scores of other attributes make these materials ideally "Designers' Choice'. The current material scenario is such that, unless a real breakthrough is made , these materials are destined to dominate through the twenty -first century. The present paper takes a cursory look into the early uses of composites and their impact on human civilisation as well as potential and growth of modern composites . namely. PMC. MMC and CMC in aerospace applications . A few numerical case studies are also presented to highlight the importance of CMC for high temperature applications.