Ceramics

Ceramics can be defined as heat-resistant, nonmetallic, inorganic solids that are (generally) made
up of compounds formed from metallic and nonmetallic elements. Although different types of
ceramics can have very different properties, in general ceramics are corrosion- resistant and hard,
but brittle. Most ceramics are also good insulators and can withstand high temperatures. These
properties have led to their use in virtually every aspect of modern life.
A ceramic has traditionally been defined as an inorganic, nonmetallic solid that is prepared from
powdered materials, is fabricated into products through the application of heat, and displays such
characteristic properties as hardness, strength, low electrical conductivity, and brittleness.
" The word ceramic comes the from Greek word "keramikos", which means "pottery." They are
typically crystalline in nature and are compounds formed between metallic and nonmetallic
elements such as aluminum and oxygen (alumina-Al2O3), calcium and oxygen (calcia - CaO),
and silicon and nitrogen (silicon nitride-Si3N4).
Depending on their method of formation, ceramics can be dense or lightweight. Typically, they
will demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties; however, they are often brittle in
nature. Ceramics can also be formed to serve as electrically conductive materials or insulators.
Some ceramics, like superconductors, also display magnetic properties. They are also more
resistant to high temperatures and harsh environments than metals and polymers. Due to ceramic
materials wide range of properties, they are used for a multitude of applications.
The broad categories or segments that make up the ceramic industry can be classified as:
Structural clay products (brick, sewer pipe, roofing and wall tile, flue linings, etc.)
Whitewares (dinnerware, floor and wall tile, electrical porcelain, etc.)
Refractories (brick and monolithic products used in metal, glass, cements, ceramics,
energy conversion, petroleum, and chemicals industries)
Glasses (flat glass (windows), container glass (bottles), pressed and blown glass
(dinnerware), glass fibers (home insulation), and advanced/specialty glass (optical
fibers))
Abrasives (natural (garnet, diamond, etc.) and synthetic (silicon carbide, diamond,
fused alumina, etc.) abrasives are used for grinding, cutting, polishing, lapping, or
pressure blasting of materials)
Cements (for roads, bridges, buildings, dams, and etc.)
Examples of structural ceramics
Construction bricks.
Floor and roof tiles.
Sewage pipes
Examples of whiteware ceramics
Bone china
Earthenware, which is often made from clay, quartz and feldspar.
Porcelain, which are often made from kaolin
Stoneware
Classification of technical ceramics

Technical ceramics can also be classified into three distinct material categories:
Oxides: Alumina, zirconia
Non-oxides: Carbides, borides, nitrides, silicides
Composites: Particulate reinforced, combinations of oxides and non-oxides.
Each one of these classes can develop unique material properties
Examples of technical ceramics
Barium titanate (often mixed with strontium titanate) displays ferroelectricity, meaning that its
mechanical, electrical, and thermal responses are coupled to one another and also historydependent. It is widely used in electromechanical transducers, ceramic capacitors, and data
storage elements. Grain boundary conditions can create PTC effects in heating elements.
Bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide, a high-temperature superconductor
Boron carbide (B4C), which is used in ceramic plates in some personnel, helicopter and tank
armor.
Boron nitride is structurally isoelectronic to carbon and takes on similar physical forms: a
graphite-like one used as a lubricant, and a diamond-like one used as an abrasive.
Ferrite (Fe3O4), which is ferrimagnetic and is used in the magnetic cores of electrical
transformers and magnetic core memory.
Lead zirconate titanate is another ferroelectric material.
Magnesium diboride (MgB2), which is an unconventional superconductor.
Silicon carbide (SiC), which is used as a susceptor in microwave furnaces, a commonly used
abrasive, and as a refractory material.
Silicon nitride (Si3N4), which is used as an abrasive powder.
Steatite is used as an electrical insulator.
Uranium oxide (UO2), used as fuel in nuclear reactors.
Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBa2Cu3O7-x), another high temperature superconductor.
Zinc oxide (ZnO), which is a semiconductor, and used in the construction of varistors.
Zirconium dioxide (zirconia), which in pure form undergoes many phase changes between room
temperature and practical sintering temperatures, can be chemically "stabilized" in several
different forms. Its high oxygen ion conductivity recommends it for use in fuel cells. In another
variant, metastable structures can impart transformation toughening for mechanical applications;
most ceramic knife blades are made of this material.
Properties of ceramics
Mechanical properties
Ceramic materials are usually ionic or covalently-bonded materials, and can be crystalline or
amorphous. A material held together by either type of bond will tend to fracture before any
plastic deformation takes place, which results in poor toughness in these materials. Additionally,
because these materials tend to be porous, the pores and other microscopic imperfections act as
stress concentrators, decreasing the toughness further, and reducing the tensile strength. These
combine to give catastrophic failures, as opposed to the normally much more gentle failure
modes of metals. These materials do show plastic deformation. However, due to the rigid
structure of the crystalline materials, there are very few available slip systems for dislocations to
move, and so they deform very slowly. With the non-crystalline (glassy) materials, viscous flow
is the dominant source of plastic deformation, and is also very slow. It is therefore neglected in
many applications of ceramic materials.
Electrical properties

Semiconductors There are a number of ceramics that are semiconductors. Most of these are
transition metal oxides that are II-VI semiconductors, such as zinc oxide. While there is talk of
making blue LEDs from zinc oxide, ceramicists are most interested in the electrical properties
that show grain boundary effects. One of the most widely used of these is the varistor. These are
devices that exhibit the property that resistance drops sharply at a certain threshold voltage. Once
the voltage across the device reaches the threshold, there is a breakdown of the electrical
structure in the vicinity of the grain boundaries, which results in its electrical resistance dropping
from several megohms down to a few hundred ohms. The major advantage of these is that they
can dissipate a lot of energy, and they self reset after the voltage across the device drops
below the threshold, its resistance returns to being high. This makes them ideal for surgeprotection applications. As there is control over the threshold voltage and energy tolerance, they
find use in all sorts of applications. The best demonstration of their ability can be found in
electrical substations, where they are employed to protect the infrastructure from lightning
strikes. They have rapid response, are low maintenance, and do not appreciably degrade from
use, making them virtually ideal devices for this application. Semiconducting ceramics are also
employed as gas sensors. When various gases are passed over a polycrystalline ceramic, its
electrical resistance changes. With tuning to the possible gas mixtures, very inexpensive devices
can be produced.
Superconductivity Under some conditions, such as extremely low temperature, some ceramics
exhibit superconductivity. The exact reason for this is not known, but there are two major
families of superconducting ceramics.
Ferro electricity and supersets Piezoelectricity, a link between electrical and mechanical
response, is exhibited by a large number of ceramic materials, including the quartz used to
measure time in watches and other electronics. Such devices use both properties of
piezoelectrics, using electricity to produce a mechanical motion (powering the device) and then
using this mechanical motion to produce electricity (generating a signal). The unit of time
measured is the natural interval required for electricity to be converted into mechanical energy
and back again. The piezoelectric effect is generally stronger in materials that also exhibit
pyroelectricity, and all pyroelectric materials are also piezoelectric. These materials can be used
to inter convert between thermal, mechanical, and/or electrical energy; for instance, after
synthesis in a furnace, a pyroelectric crystal allowed to cool under no applied stress generally
builds up a static charge of thousands of volts. Such materials are used in motion sensors, where
the tiny rise in temperature from a warm body entering the room is enough to produce a
measurable voltage in the crystal. In turn, pyroelectricity is seen most strongly in materials which
also display the ferroelectric effect, in which a stable electric dipole can be oriented or reversed
by applying an electrostatic field. Pyroelectricity is also a necessary consequence of
ferroelectricity. This can be used to store information in ferroelectric capacitors, elements of
ferroelectric RAM. The most common such materials are lead zirconate titanate and barium
titanate. Aside from the uses mentioned above, their strong piezoelectric response is exploited in
the design of high-frequency loudspeakers, transducers for sonar, and actuators for atomic force
and scanning tunneling microscopes.
Positive thermal coefficient Increases in temperature can cause grain boundaries to suddenly
become insulating in some semiconducting ceramic materials, mostly mixtures of heavy metal

titanates. The critical transition temperature can be adjusted over a wide range by variations in
chemistry. In such materials, current will pass through the material until joule heating brings it to
the transition temperature, at which point the circuit will be broken and current flow will cease.
Such ceramics are used as self-controlled heating elements in, for example, the rear-window
defrost circuits of automobiles. At the transition temperature, the material's dielectric response
becomes theoretically infinite. While a lack of temperature control would rule out any practical
use of the material near its critical temperature, the dielectric effect remains exceptionally strong
even at much higher temperatures. Titanates with critical temperatures far below room
temperature have become synonymous with "ceramic" in the context of ceramic capacitors for
just this reason.
Classification of ceramics
Non-crystalline ceramics: Non-crystalline ceramics, being glasses, tend to be formed from melts.
The glass is shaped when either fully molten, by casting, or when in a state of toffee-like
viscosity, by methods such as blowing to a mold. If later heat-treatments cause this class to
become partly crystalline, the resulting material is known as a glass-ceramic.
Crystalline ceramics: Crystalline ceramic materials are not amenable to a great range of
processing. Methods for dealing with them tend to fall into one of two categories - either make
the ceramic in the desired shape, by reaction in situ, or by "forming" powders into the desired
shape, and then sintering to form a solid body.
Ceramic forming techniques include shaping by hand (sometimes including a rotation process
called "throwing"), slip casting, tape casting (used for making very thin ceramic capacitors, etc.),
injection molding, dry pressing, and other variations. (See also Ceramic forming techniques.
Details of these processes are described in the two books listed below.) A few methods use a
hybrid between the two approaches.
In situ manufacturing
The most common use of this method is in the production of cement and concrete. Here, the
dehydrated powders are mixed with water. This starts hydration reactions, which result in long,
interlocking crystals forming around the aggregates. Over time, these result in a solid ceramic.
The biggest problem with this method is that most reactions are so fast that good mixing is not
possible, which tends to prevent large-scale construction. However, small-scale systems can be
made by deposition techniques, where the various materials are introduced above a substrate, and
react and form the ceramic on the substrate. This borrows techniques from the semiconductor
industry, such as chemical vapour deposition, and is very useful for coatings. These tend to
produce very dense ceramics, but do so slowly.
Sintering-based methods
The principles of sintering-based methods is simple. Once a roughly held together object (called
a "green body") is made, it is baked in a kiln, where diffusion processes cause the green body to
shrink. The pores in the object close up, resulting in a denser, stronger product. The firing is done
at a temperature below the melting point of the ceramic. There is virtually always some porosity
left, but the real advantage of this method is that the green body can be produced in any way
imaginable, and still be sintered. This makes it a very versatile route. There are thousands of
possible refinements of this process. Some of the most common involve pressing the green body
to give the densification a head start and reduce the sintering time needed. Sometimes organic
binders such as polyvinyl alcohol are added to hold the green body together; these burn out

during the firing (at 200350C). Sometimes organic lubricants are added during pressing to
increase densification. It is not uncommon to combine these, and add binders and lubricants to a
powder, then press. (The formulation of these organic chemical additives is an art in itself. This
is particularly important in the manufacture of high performance ceramics such as those used by
the billions for electronics, in capacitors, inductors, sensors, etc. The specialized formulations
most commonly used in electronics are detailed in the book "Tape Casting," by R.E. Mistler, et
al., Amer. Ceramic Soc. [Westerville, Ohio], 2000.) A comprehensive book on the subject, for
mechanical as well as electronics applications, is "Organic Additives and Ceramic Processing,"
by D. J. Shanefield, Kluwer Publishers [Boston], 1996. A slurry can be used in place of a
powder, and then cast into a desired shape, dried and then sintered. Indeed, traditional pottery is
done with this type of method, using a plastic mixture worked with the hands. If a mixture of
different materials is used together in a ceramic, the sintering temperature is sometimes above
the melting point of one minor component - a liquid phase sintering. This results in shorter
sintering times compared to solid state sintering.
Other applications of ceramics
Ceramics are used in the manufacture of knives. The blade of the ceramic knife will stay sharp
for much longer than that of a steel knife, although it is more brittle and can be snapped by
dropping it on a hard surface.
Ceramics such as alumina and boron carbide have been used in ballistic armored vests to repel
large-caliber rifle fire. Such plates are known commonly as small-arms protective inserts (SAPI).
Similar material is used to protect cockpits of some military airplanes, because of the low weight
of the material.
Ceramic balls can be used to replace steel in ball bearings. Their higher hardness means that they
are much less susceptible to wear and can often more than triple lifetimes. They also deform less
under load meaning they have less contact with the bearing retainer walls and can roll faster. In
very high speed applications, heat from friction during rolling can cause problems for metal
bearings; problems which are reduced by the use of ceramics. Ceramics are also more chemically
resistant and can be used in wet environments where steel bearings would rust. The major
drawback to using ceramics is a significantly higher cost. In many cases their electrically
insulating properties may also be valuable in bearings.
In the early 1980s, Toyota researched production of an adiabatic ceramic engine which can run at
a temperature of over 6000 F (3300 C). Ceramic engines do not require a cooling system and
hence allow a major weight reduction and therefore greater fuel efficiency. Fuel efficiency of the
engine is also higher at high temperature, as shown by Carnot's theorem. In a conventional
metallic engine, much of the energy released from the fuel must be dissipated as waste heat in
order to prevent a meltdown of the metallic parts. Despite all of these desirable properties, such
engines are not in production because the manufacturing of ceramic parts in the requisite
precision and durability is difficult. Imperfection in the ceramic leads to cracks, which can lead
to potentially dangerous equipment failure. Such engines are possible in laboratory settings, but
mass-production is unfeasible with current technology.
Work is being done in developing ceramic parts for gas turbine engines. Currently, even blades
made of advanced metal alloys used in the engines' hot section require cooling and careful
limiting of operating temperatures. Turbine engines made with ceramics could operate more
efficiently, giving aircraft greater range and payload for a set amount of fuel.
Recently, there have been advances in ceramics which include bio-ceramics, such as dental
implants and synthetic bones. Hydroxyapatite, the natural mineral component of bone, has been

made synthetically from a number of biological and chemical sources and can be formed into
ceramic materials. Orthopedic implants made from these materials bond readily to bone and
other tissues in the body without rejection or inflammatory reactions. Because of this, they are of
great interest for gene delivery and tissue engineering scaffolds. Most hydroxy apatite ceramics
are very porous and lack mechanical strength and are used to coat metal orthopedic devices to
aid in forming a bond to bone or as bone fillers. They are also used as fillers for orthopedic
plastic screws to aid in reducing the inflammation and increase absorption of these plastic
materials. Work is being done to make strong-fully dense nano crystalline hydroxapatite ceramic
materials for orthopedic weight bearing devices, replacing foreign metal and plastic orthopedic
materials with a synthetic natural bone mineral. Ultimately these ceramic materials may be used
as bone replacements or with the incorporation of protein collagens, synthetic bones.Advanced
ceramics

o Structural (wear parts, bioceramics, cutting tools, and engine components)

o Electrical (capacitors, insulators, substrates, integrated circuit packages,
piezoelectrics, magnets and superconductors)
o Coatings (engine components, cutting tools, and industrial wear parts)
o Chemical and environmental (filters, membranes, catalysts, and catalyst supports)
The atoms in ceramic materials are held together by a chemical bond which will be discussed a
bit later. Briefly though, the two most common chemical bonds for ceramic materials are
covalent and ionic. Covalent and ionic bonds are much stronger than in metallic bonds and,
generally speaking, this is why ceramics are brittle and metals are ductile.
Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineered materials made from two
or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties and
which remain separate and distinct on a macroscopic level within the finished structure.

Background
The most primitive composite materials comprised straw and mud in the form of bricks for
building construction; the Biblical book of Exodus speaks of the Israelites being oppressed
by Pharaoh, by being forced to make bricks without straw. The ancient brick-making
process can still be seen on Egyptian tomb paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art[1].
The most advanced examples perform routinely on spacecraft in demanding environments.
The most visible applications pave our roadways in the form of either steel and aggregate
reinforced portland cement or asphalt concrete. Those composites closest to our personal
hygiene form our shower stalls and bath tubs made of fiberglass. Solid surface, imitation
granite and cultured marble sinks and counter tops are widely used to enhance our living
experiences.

There are two categories of constituent materials: matrix and reinforcement. At least one

portion of each type is required. The matrix material surrounds and supports the
reinforcement materials by maintaining their relative positions. The reinforcements impart
their special mechanical and physical properties to enhance the matrix properties.
A synergism produces material properties unavailable from the individual constituent
materials, while the wide variety of matrix and strengthening materials allows the designer
of the product or structure to choose an optimum combination. Engineered composite
materials must be formed to shape. The matrix material can be introduced to the
reinforcement before or after the reinforcement material is placed into the mold cavity or
onto the mold surface.
The matrix material experiences a melding event, after which the part shape is essentially
set. Depending upon the nature of the matrix material, this melding event can occur in
various ways such as chemical polymerization or solidification from the melted state.
A variety of molding methods can be used according to the end-item design requirements.
The principal factors impacting the methodology are the natures of the chosen matrix and
reinforcement materials. Another important factor is the gross quantity of material to be
produced. Large quantities can be used to justify high capital expenditures for rapid and
automated manufacturing technology. Small production quantities are accommodated with
lower capital expenditures but higher labor and tooling costs at a correspondingly slower
rate.

Most commercially produced composites use a polymer matrix material often called a resin
solution. There are many different polymers available depending upon the starting raw
ingredients. There are several broad categories, each with numerous variations. The most
common are known as polyester, vinyl
ester, epoxy, phenolic, polyimide, polyamide, polypropylene, PEEK, and others. The
reinforcement materials are often fibers but also commonly ground minerals.
Molding methods
In general, the reinforcing and matrix materials are combined, compacted and processed to
undergo a melding event. After the melding event, the part shape is essentially set, although
it can deform under certain process conditions. For a thermoset polymeric matrix material,
the melding event is a curing reaction that is initiated by the application of additional heat or
chemical reactivity such as an organic peroxide. For a thermoplastic polymeric matrix
material, the melding event is a solidification from the melted state. For a metal matrix
material such as titanium foil, the melding event is a fusing at high pressure and a
temperature near the melt point.

For many molding methods, it is convenient to refer to one mold piece as a "lower" mold
and another mold piece as an "upper" mold. Lower and upper refer to the different faces of
the molded panel, not the mold's configuration in space. In this convention, there is always
a lower mold, and sometimes an upper mold. Part construction begins by applying materials
to the lower mold. Lower mold and upper mold are more generalized descriptors than more
common and specific terms such as male side, female side, a-side, b-side, tool side, bowl,
hat, mandrel, etc. Continuous manufacturing processes use a different nomenclature.
The molded product is often referred to as a panel. For certain geometries and material
combinations, it can be referred to as a casting. For certain continuous processes, it can be
referred to as a profile.
Open molding
A process using a rigid, one sided mold which shapes only one surface of the panel. The
opposite surface is determined by the amount of material placed upon the lower mold.
Reinforcement materials can be placed manually or robotically. They include
continuous fiber forms fashioned into textile constructions and chopped fiber. The matrix is
generally a resin, and can be applied with a pressure roller, a spray device or manually. This
process is generally done at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. Two
variations of open molding are Hand Layup and Spray-up.

Vacuum bag molding

A process using a two-sided mold set that shapes both surfaces of the panel. On the lower
side is a rigid mold and on the upper side is a flexible membrane. The flexible membrane
can be a reusable silicone material or an extruded polymer film such as nylon.
Reinforcement materials can be placed on the lower mold manually or robotically, generally
as continuous fiber forms fashioned into textile constructions. The matrix is generally a
resin. The fiber form may be pre-impregnated with the resin in the form of prepreg fabrics or
unidirectional tapes. Otherwise, liquid matrix material is introduced to dry fiber forms prior to
applying the flexible film. Then, vacuum is applied to the mold cavity. This process can
performed at either ambient or elevated temperature with ambient atmospheric pressure
acting upon the vacuum bag.

Autoclave molding

A process using a two-sided mold set that forms both surfaces of the panel. One the lower
side is a rigid mold and on the upper side is a flexible membrane made from silicone or an
extruded polymer film such as nylon. Reinforcement materials can be placed manually or
robotically. They include continuous fiber forms fashioned into textile constructions. Most

often, they are pre-impregnated with the resin in the form of prepreg fabrics or unidirectional
tapes. In some instances, a resin film is placed upon the lower mold and dry reinforcement
is placed above. The upper mold is installed and vacuum is applied to the mold cavity.
Then, the assembly is placed into an autoclave pressure vessel. This process is generally
performed at both elevated pressure and elevated temperature. The use of elevated
pressure facilitates a high fiber volume fraction and low void content for maximum structural
efficiency.

Resin transfer molding

A process using a two-sided mold set that forms both surfaces of the panel. The lower side
is a rigid mold. The upper side can be a rigid or flexible mold. Flexible molds can be made
from composite materials, silicone or extruded polymer films such as nylon. The two sides
fit together to produce a mold cavity. The distinguishing feature of resin transfer molding is
that the reinforcement materials are placed into this cavity and the mold set is closed prior
to the introduction of matrix material. Resin transfer molding includes numerous varieties
which differ in the mechanics of how the resin is introduced to the reinforcement in the mold
cavity. These variations include everything from vacuum infusion to vacuum assisted resin
transfer molding. This process can be performed at either ambient or elevated temperature.

Other

Other types of molding include press molding, transfer molding, pultrusion molding, filament
winding, casting, centrifugal casting and continuous casting.

Tooling
Some types of tooling materials used in the manufacturing of composites structures
include invar, steel, aluminum, reinforced silicon rubber, nickle, and carbon fiber. Selection
of the tooling material is typically based on, but not limited to, the coefficient of thermal
expansion, expected number of cycles, end item tolerance, desired or required surface
condition, method of cure, glass transition temperature of the material being molded,
molding method, matrix, cost and a variety of other considerations.

Mechanics of composite materials

The physical properties of composite materials are generally not isotropic in nature, but
rather are typically orthotropic. For instance, the stiffness of a composite panel will often
depend upon the directional orientation of the applied forces and/or moments. Panel
stiffness is also dependent on the design of the panel. For instance, the fiber reinforcement
and matrix used, the method of panel build, thermoset versus thermoplastic, type of weave,
and orientation of fiber axis to the primary force.
In contrast, isotropic materials (for example, aluminium or steel), in standard wrought forms,
typically have the same stiffness regardless of the directional orientation of the applied
forces and/or moments.

The relationship between forces/moments and strains/curvatures for an isotropic material

can be described with the following material properties: Young's Modulus, the Shear
Modulus and the Poisson's ratio, in relatively simple mathematical relationships. For the
anisotropic material, it requires the mathematics of a second order tensor and can require
up to 21 material property constants. For the special case of orthogonal isotropy, there are
three different material property constants for each of Young's Modulus, Shear Modulus and
Poisson's Ratio for a total of 9 material property constants to describe the relationship
between forces/moments and strains/curvatures.

Categories of fiber reinforced composite materials

Fiber reinforced composite materials can be divided into two main categories normally
referred to as short fiber reinforced materials and continuous fiber reinforced materials.
Continuous reinforced materials will often constitute a layered or laminated structure. The
woven and continuous fiber styles are typically available in a variety of forms, being preimpregnated with the given matrix (resin), dry, uni-directional tapes of various widths, plain
weave, harness satins, braided, and stitched.

The short and long fibers are typically employed in compression molding and sheet molding
operations. These come in the form of flakes, chips, and random mate (which can also be
made from a continuous fiber laid in random fashion until the desired thickness of the ply /
laminate is achieved).

Failure of Composites
Shocks, impact, loadings or repeated cyclic stresses can cause the laminate to separate at
the interface between two layers, a condition known as delamination. Individual fibers can
separate from the matrix e.g. fiber pull-out.

Examples of composite materials

Fiber Reinforced Polymers or FRPs include Wood comprising (cellulose fibers in
a lignin and hemicellulose matrix), Carbon-fiber reinforced plastic or CFRP, Glass-fiber
reinforced plastic or GFRP (also GRP). If classified by matrix then there
are Thermoplastic Composites, short fiber thermoplastics, long fiber thermoplastics or long
fiber reinforced thermoplastics There are numerous thermoset composites, but advanced
systems usually incorporate aramid fibre and carbon fibre in an epoxy resin matrix.
Composites can also utilise metal fibres reinforcing other metals, as in Metal matrix
composites or MMC. Ceramic matrix composites include Bone(hydroxyapatite reinforced
with collagen fibers), Cermet (ceramic and metal) and Concrete. Organic matrix/ceramic
aggregate composites include Asphalt concrete, Mastic asphalt, Mastic roller hybrid, Dental
composite, Syntactic foam and Mother of Pearl. Chobham armour is a special composite
used in military applications.

Additionally, thermoplastic composite materials can be formulated with specific metal

powders resulting in materials with a density range from 2 g/cc to 11 g/cc (same density as
lead). These materials can be used in place of traditional materials such as aluminum,
stainless steel, brass, bronze, copper, lead, and even tungsten in weighting, balancing,
vibration dampening, and radiation shielding applications. High density composites are an
economically viable option when certain materials are deemed hazardous and are banned
(such as lead) or when secondary operations costs (such as machining, finishing, or
coating) are a factor.
Engineered wood includes a wide variety of different products such as Plywood, Oriented
strand board, Wood plastic composite (recycled wood fiber in polyethylene
matrix), Pykrete (sawdust in ice matrix), Plastic-impregnated or laminated paper or
textiles, Arborite, Formica (plastic) and Micarta.

Typical Products
Composite materials have gained popularity (despite their generally high cost) in highperformance products such as aerospace components (tails, wings , fuselages, propellors),
boat and scull hulls, and racing car bodies. More mundane uses include fishing
rods and storage tanks.

See also

Alloy
Fibre
Polymer
Thermoplastic
Thermoset
----------------------------------------------

Fibre reinforced composites

Composites are multilayer materials, consisting of different layers with distinct properties in
each layer. The composite is made to better utilize a combination of properties from different
layers.
Polypropylene and bicomponent fibres can be very important component
of fibre reinforced composites, as they function not only as a reinforcing element, but also
as a binder fibre between the individual layers.

Polypropylene and bicomponent fibres are used in many different composite products:

fibre-reinforced concrete (to reinforce and prevent cracks),

insulation material (to avoid the use of chemical binders),
multifunctional liquid transport media (acquisition and distribution layers),
woven fabrics (as a dimensional stability network)
laminated products (lamination between textiles and boards)

Polypropylene and bicomponent (PP/PE) fibres have the ability to add structural
performance, and functionality to the composite material.

Polypropylene and bicomponent (PP/PE) fibres provide the following advantages in fibre

reinforced composites:

Enable lightweight constructions (PP fibres have the lowest specific gravity of all
fibres)
Easy to process and environmentally friendly thermoplastics
Mechanical properties, toughness and impact strength
Stability in rigid environments (Resistant to deterioration from chemicals, mildew,
perspiration, rot and weather)
Ability to add bulkiness and softness to the composite (if needed).