Composites on the Move

Composites are now a broad and well-established family of materials, but industry press releases frequently discuss “new and exciting” developments and opportunities. It should be remembered that there has been a commercial market in high performance, structural composites for well over 30 years, and European automotive manufacturers have made considerable use of lower performance glass fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP) bodywork since the 1950s.

Thermal image showing heating at failure
of a static tensile test (1mm/min)
of an impacted composite specimen

Furthermore, a high level of interest from the aerospace industry has resulted in a wide range of well-established static test methods giving reliable results. Sadly, there is still only limited consensus, so test houses and machine manufacturers find themselves maintaining an extensive catalog of fixtures in order to meet diverse international and industry standards. From this starting point, it might be argued that there is little news in composites testing, but in fact some exciting trends have started to develop.

Recently published in AM&P magazine, Peter Bailey, PhD - Sr. Applications Specialist - wrote an article on the growth in the dynamic testing market for composites.

We are including it here for you to download.