Drilling of Polymer-Matrix Composites

Book Preface

The technologically advancing society is continuously challenging the limits of conventional materials and placing newer demands on material performance. Extreme and sometimes conflicting requirements are forcing us to engineer materials that are not possible by conventional alloying methods. Composite materials form a material system composed of a mixture or combination and are insoluble in each other. Composite material comes under one class of engineered material developed specifically to meet such a challenge. Glass fibre reinforced resin matrix composites were first introduced in the early 1940s. Since then, the use of composites is growing steadily in various industries such as aircraft, marine, automobile, sporting goods, etc.

Some of the advantages of composites include high specific strength, high specific stiffness, fatigue strength and impact resistance, thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, and good dimensional stability. Composite materials are usually designed to possess certain specific properties desirable in that application. Unusual combination of properties not easily obtainable with alloys such as higher fracture toughness, higher oxidation and corrosion resistance, directional properties, good resistance to heat, cold and moisture, ease of fabrication and low cost could be brought out; of course, not all together simultaneously. Modern composite materials, depending on the matrix materials used, can be classified as polymer matrix composites (PMC), ceramic matrix composites (CMC) and metal matrix composites