• Question: what is a composites

    Asked by anon-335594 on 4 Oct 2022.
    • Photo: Chloe Loveless

      Chloe Loveless answered on 4 Oct 2022:

      A composite material is a material made up of several parts or elements. For example you could make wood/plastic composites that mix wood and plastic together. Composites are typically used to try and get get a material that has the best properties of the composite’s constituent parts.

    • Photo: Justin Perry

      Justin Perry answered on 4 Oct 2022:

      A composite is a material that is made of more than one basic component… so it could be a softer plastic which contains a harder material as a small proportion. The advantage of using a composite is that you should be able to get a material which has properties based on all its components.
      For example: if you want to make something relatively rigid (like a tennis racket) you might think about making it out of one thing that is very hard (all metal, or all hardwood) but that will likely make it very expensive or very heavy. Instead you would use a composite material which has a “skeleton” of fibres to provide strength, and a cheaper, light, plastic component to protect this skeleton.
      Or if you look at a pair of Adidas trainers- they are made up of many parts which you could describe as “plastic” but if you look more closely they are made up of composite materials which offer strength/flexibility/breathability/comfort/bounce due to the different components in those parts so they do their job the best they can.

    • Photo: Harry Dodge

      Harry Dodge answered on 4 Oct 2022:

      A composite is simply a material that is composed (or made up of) two or more things. There are all sorts of composites you see and use in your daily life. When you see a construction site you will see cement with steel bars sticking out, that’s used in almost all modern buildings!
      Another cool composite is CFRP or Carbon Fibre Reinforced plastic. This is a favourite of engineers looking to make their vehicles as light and fast as possible. Almost the entirety of an F1 car is CFRP.

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