Selected papers from the 6th International Conference on Durability Analysis of Composite Material Systems

摘要

Composites are everywhere today. They are present in nature from plants and trees to the different components of human and animal bodies. They are incorporated in an increasing way in many structural elements in aeronautical, space, water and land transport as well as in offshore, pipeline, bridge and general infrastructure applications. They are also widely used for renovation and repair of damaged and deteriorated infrastructure elements. The composite concept is an old one, which made a comeback in the early years of the 20th century with concrete and reinforcing elements followed by a high technology evolution after the 2nd world war and the development of new synthetic resins. Although the polymers were very easy to process and very convenient for manufacturing of different geometrical shapes they did not fulfil the conditions of stiffness and strength necessary for applications in load- bearing structural elements. Different fibres were produced in order to reinforce those polymers and today we have a very large spectrum of fibers, matrices, manufacturing and processing methods used to build up composite material systems for a variety of applications.