The current century, by analogy with the Bronze or Iron Age, can be confidently called the age of composite materials. The appearance of this term refers to the middle of the last century, but the concept itself is not new - the use of combinations of different materials was used in the construction of dwellings by the builders of ancient Babylon and Rome, the masters of Ancient Greece and Moscow architects. In addition, nature itself created samples of composite materials in a wide variety - these are bones, wood, animal shells, etc. Composite materials have good quality characteristics and attractive appearance.
These materials have several components in their composition: a plastic base, which is called a matrix, and fillers that allow you to give the original mixture original properties that are not originally characteristic of it. A feature of composite materials is the presence of boundariesbetween components, also called phases.
The production of these elements is aimed at creating new products that would 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 amount of matrix and fillers is used, special reagents are actively used. Of no small importance in the manufacture of composites is the arrangement of elements in the material itself, their ordering in relation to each other and in the intended direction of the impact of loads. The higher the strength of the composite, the higher the orderliness of its structure.
Today, the concept of composite materials means the whole variety of artificially created products, provided that the process of their production meets the basic principle of creating composites. A significant increase in interest in the development and production of new materials is facilitated by the discrepancy between traditional designs and the requirements of modern engineering practice.
What are composite materials made of
The following are usually used as a matrix in their manufacture: cements, metals, polymers, ceramics. Fillers in this case can be natural and artificially created substances that have fibrous, sheet, dispersed, large-sized forms (recently, microdispersed forms and nanoparticles have also been used).
Multicomponent composite materials are divided into: hybrid, including in theircomposition different fillers, and polymatrix, combining several matrices in one material.
Field of application of composite materials
Since, when creating composite materials, they are purposefully given different properties, the area of their application is expected to be quite extensive. Due to their structure and composition, composites can have radio-absorbing properties or be radio-transparent, they can easily cope with the thermal protection of space stations. Composite materials are used as durable and reliable building materials and beautiful decorative finishes. It is difficult to overestimate the possibilities of development and improvement of production and technologies, which are provided by the use of composites in electronics, medicine, metallurgy, sports, and art.
Now you know a lot about what constitutes the production of composite materials!
