Discover
/
Article

Composite Materials—Reflections on the First Half Century

NOV 01, 1999
Advances made in understanding the properties and behavior of composite materials are now powering the exploitation of their immense potential.
Tony Kelly
Bill Clyne

Nature tends to use composites in building strong structures. Timber, for instance, is a composite made up of strong cellulose fibers in soft lignin. Bone consists of hydroxyapatite in collagen. Although people don’t always recognize them, composites are everywhere. Only in the last 50 years or so has mankind purposely imitated these natural materials by developing artificial composites.

This article is only available in PDF format

References

  1. 1. A. Kelly, N. H. Macmillan, Strong Solids, Oxford U. P., Oxford, England (1986).

  2. 2. A. Kelly, R. W. Cahn, M. B. Bevered, eds. Concise Encyclopaedia of Composite Materials, Pergamon Press, Oxford, England (1994).

  3. 3. D. Hull, T. W. Clyne, An Introduction to Composite Materials, Cambridge U. P., Cambridge, England (1996).

  4. 4. T. W. Clyne, P. J. Withers, An Introduction to Metal Matrix Composites, Cambridge U. P., Cambridge, England (1993).

  5. 5. T. W. Clyne, B. Tanovic, Mechanics of Composite Materials, in Materials Science on CD, software package in MATTER series, Liverpool U. P., Liverpool, England (1995).

  6. 6. A. Kelly, C. Zweben, eds., Comprehensive Composite Materials, 6 vols., Elsevier, Oxford, England, in press.

More about the authors

Tony Kelly, University of Cambridge's department of materials science and metallurgy, Cambridge, England.

Bill Clyne, University of Cambridge's department of materials science and metallurgy, Cambridge, England.

Related content
/
Article
Interviews now available to the public bring the famed physicist’s lesser-known early years to life.
/
Article
Graduate students in physics and astronomy struggle with mental health. Support from peers and advisers is critical; so is institutional change.
/
Article
Inside certain quantum systems, where randomness was thought to lurk, researchers—after a 40-year journey—have found order and unique wave patterns that stubbornly survive.
/
Article
A half century after the discovery of Hawking radiation, we are still dealing with the quantum puzzle it exposed.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1999_11.jpeg

Volume 52, Number 11

Get PT newsletters in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.