Composite - Trend and Scope of Upcoming Generations

Composites are the combination of 2 or more materials that, when combined, are stronger than those individual materials. There are a lot of advantages of using composites that includes light weight, more strength, weight to strength ratio, more durability, better fatigue property, toughness, non-corrosive etc.. The current and upcoming generation researches are going to be taking place in field of composite. The scopes of composites are wide spread over space, Automobile, medical equipment, armor etc.

There are mainly 4 type of composites namely polymer matrix composite, carbon matrix composite, metal matrix composite and ceramic matrix composite. The 2 different materials needed for the composite fabrication are matrix and reinforcement. The matrix is act as a binder mainly used are epoxy resin, silicone, polyurethane, vinyl ester resins, phenols etc. The different fiber modes available in market are roving, mat and fabric. 

The properties of composites are the combination of properties of the individual matrix and reinforcement used. The properties of composites are varying with respect to the matrix and reinforcement used, number of layers of reinforcement, matrix- reinforcement ratio, manufacturing technique, the curing cycle, the tool used for the composite fabrication etc.. There are different ways for composite manufacturing. In this the most easy and cheapest way is the hand lay-up method. Others are vacuum bagging, autoclave process, injection method, pre-preg method and filament winding method. 

Now a days most of the research funding by industries taking place in composite field. Most of the aircraft and automobile metallic parts are replaced with composites. Composites are mainly dominating in space sector. Most of the structure and covering of the in the space shuttles and satieties are composites. The oil and gas, power and medical sector are also using composite as one of their main material. Now many of the medical equipment, artificial organs and surgical equipment are manufactured using composites. Even household utilities and furniture’s has been manufactured using composites. The combination of composite and sustainability are making a good sense in today’s life. The revolution of composites made a big change in the current generation. The involving of composite in automobiles made a great change in those sectors. By using composites in automobile and aircraft parts, the strength to weight ratio is getting increased. Due to the reduction of weight without any change in strength leads to the increase in efficiency and reduction of fuel usage. Even though, some challenges such as warpage and spring-in making huge problems in this field. These effects lead to many failures and rejections of manufactured products. Studies are taking place to eliminate these effects. 

As we have seen there are a lot of advantages of using composites in place of metals and other materials. As we have seen for everything, if there is a positive side definitely there will be a negative side. Here in case of composites the major cons are the cost of material and production method is also costly. Another one which acts as a disadvantage of composite is the manufacturing time. Now a days the researches for faster composite manufacturing technique, reusability of composite, machinability of composite, reduction of manufacturing cost of composite materials etc.. are taking place. 

Today we all are facing covid crisis, all the engineering and non-engineering sectors has been stopped function partially. We all are expecting the comeback of our industries by next year. All the research and experiments in every sector has been held on hold due to the current pandemic scenario. Composite field is also waiting for the huge comeback by end of the year 2020. A lot of researches are waiting to be done after this pandemic. Composite is a game changer in the industrial sector. Let all of us wish for a better tomorrow.

Sylvester N J
Mechanical Engineer & Career Consultant