Sector Focus:Are composites complicated?

A composite is a material made from two or more constituent materials that have significantly varying physical or chemical properties. Simply put, composites are a combination of components. The purpose of composites is to create something stronger/better as a team, rather than individual players.

What are composites made of?

The thing that makes composites special is that the components don’t fully blend and lose their singular identities. Instead, they combine their most useful traits to make an improved final product.

They are typically made of various materials, parts or elements. In other words, they can be made up of manmade fibres such as glass, carbon and aramid, or other natural fibres, nanomaterials and usually a resin matrix to bond it all together. They can also incorporate more core materials, fillers, additives and have special surface finishes, which provide unique performance attributes.

Properties of composites

Composites are created with a particular application in mind, and so their properties range across many variations for many different industries. Some advantages composite materials can provide are:

• Strength
• Durability
• Stiffness
• Thermal conductivity
• Dimensional stability and aesthetic
• Abrasion resistance

Examples of composites

There are many different types of composites; they can be natural, synthetic, or a mixture of both. For example, plywood is a manmade composite that combines both natural and synthetic materials. Other examples of composite material combinations include:

• Carbon-Carbon
• Polyester Laminate Copper backing
• Stainless Steel-PET
• Fabric Reinforced Phenolic
• Carbon-Vinylester
• Carbon Epoxy
• Polymer reinforced with Graphene
• Polymer reinforced with Nanodiamonds

For more information on Goodfellow’s range of composites, get in touch with the team today and let’s see how we can help you!