Composite materials, their production and application

The present century, by analogy with the bronze or iron age, can be confidently called the century of composite materials. The appearance of this term refers to the middle of the last century, but the very concept is not a novelty - the use of combinations of different materials used to build houses builders of ancient Babylon and Rome, masters of ancient Greece and Moscow architects. In addition, samples of composite materials in a great variety were created by nature itself: bones, wood, animal carcasses, etc. Composite materials are characterized by good quality characteristics and attractive appearance.

These materials in their composition have several components: a plastic base, called a matrix, and fillers, which allow to give the original mixture the original properties, initially not characteristic for it. A feature of composite materials is the presence of boundaries between components, which are also called phases.

The production of these elements is aimed at creating new products that have the highest quality necessary for the development of modern science and production. To achieve the desired result, a change in the ratio of the number of matrix and fillers is used, special reagents are actively used. Of great importance in the manufacture of composites is the arrangement of elements in the material itself, their ordering relative to each other and in the expected direction of the action of the loads. The higher the strength of the composite, the more ordered its structure is.

Today, the concept of composite materials means all the variety of artificially created products, provided that the process of their production meets the basic principle of composites. Significant increase in interest in the development and production of new materials contributes to the mismatch of traditional samples to the requirements of modern engineering practice.

What Composites consist of

As a matrix in their manufacture, they usually use: cements, metals, polymers, ceramics. Fillers can be natural and artificially created substances having fibrous, sheet, dispersed, large-sized forms (recently, microdispersed forms and nanoparticles have also been used).

Multicomponent composite materials are divided into: hybrid, including in their composition different fillers, and polymatrix, combining in one material several matrices.

Scope of composite materials

Since, by creating composite materials, they are purposefully given different properties, then the area of their application is assumed to be quite extensive. Due to its structure and composition, composites can have radio-absorbing properties or be radiocarbon, they can easily cope with the thermal protection of space stations. Composite materials are used as strong and reliable building materials and beautiful decorative finishes. It is difficult to overestimate the opportunities for development and improvement of production and technology, which gives the use of composites in electronics, medicine, metallurgy, sports, and art.

Now you know a lot about what constitutes the production of composite materials!