Historical Development of Composites
PAST
After making and controlling fire and inventing the wheel, spinning of continuous yarns is probably the most important development of mankind, enabling him to survive outside the tropical climate zones and spread across the surface of the Earth. Flexible fabrics made of locally grown and spun fibres as cotton; flax and jute were a big step forward compared to animal skins. More and more natural resources were used, soon resulting in the first composites; straw reinforced walls, and bows (Figure M1.1.1 (a)) and chariots made of glued layers of wood, bone and horn. More durable materials as wood and metal soon replaced these antique composites.
Figure M1.1.1 (a): Composite Korean bow
PRESENT
Originating from early agricultural societies and being almost forgotten after centuries, a true revival started of using lightweight composite structures for many technical solutions during the second half of the 20th century. After being solely used for their electromagnetic properties (insulators and radar-domes), using composites to improve the structural performance of spacecraft and military aircraft became popular in the last two decades of the previous century. First at any costs, with development of improved materials with increasing costs, nowadays cost reduction during manufacturing and operation are the main technology drivers.
Figure M1.1.1 (b) : Lighweight composite military helmet
Latest development is the use of composites to protect man against fire and impact (Figure M1.1.1 (b)) and a tendency to a more environmental friendly design, leading to the reintroduction of natural fibres in the composite technology, see Figure M1.1.1 (c).
Figure M1.1.1 (c) : Interior part of the Mercedes A-200 (Generation of A classes)
Increasingly nowadays, the success of composites in applications, by volume and by numbers, can be ranked by accessibility and reproducibility of the applied manufacturing techniques.
Some examples of use of natural fibers are shown in Figure M1.1.1 (d) and Figure M1.1.1 (e).
Figure M1.1.1 (d) : Manufactiring of a basket using indegenous knowledge
Figure M1.1.1 (e): Traditional clay product/pottery
Future
In future, composites will be manufactured even more according to an integrated design process resulting in the optimum construction according to parameters such as shape, mass, strength, stiffness, durability, costs, etc. Newly developed design tools must be able to instantaneously show customers the influence of a design change on each one of these parameters.
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