Manufacturing

Taking composite materials as a whole, there are many different material options to choose from in the areas of resins, fibres and cores, all with their own unique set of properties such as strength, stiffness, toughness, heat resistance, cost, production rate etc.. However, the end properties of a composite part produced from these different materials is not only a function of the individual properties of the resin matrix and fibre (and in sandwich structures, the core as well), but is also a function of the way in which the materials themselves are designed into the part and also the way in which they are processed. This section compares a few of the commonly used composite production methods and presents some of the factors to be borne in mind with each different process, including the influence of each process on materials selection.

David Cripps, Gurit