This book is an extended version of the proceedings of the Symposium on Polymer Composites, Interfaces, which was held under the auspices of the Division of Polymer Chemistry, American Chemical Society (ACS) during the annual ACS meeting in Seattle, March, 1983. The importance of the interface in composite materials has been recognized since the inception of modern composite technology. Specifically, silane coupling agents were developed for glass fiber reinforced compOSites at a very early date. Ever since then the diversity of composite materials and the development of various surface treatment methods have led to the establishment of an "interface art." A trial-and-error approach has dominated the interfacial aspects of composite technology until very recently. With the advent of modern analytical techniques for surface characterization, it became possible to study detailed surface and interface structures. It was hoped that this symposium would catalyze such a fundamental and scientific approach in composite studies. For this reason, the symposium was structured to verify the influence of interfacial structures on the mechanical and physical performance of composites and to improve our knowledge of the microstructure of composite interfaces. As the word ·composite" indicates, interdisciplinary interaction is indispensable for proper understanding of multiphase systems.

This comprehensive single volume handbook covers every aspect of reinforcement science, from hands-on subjects, such as manual 'lay-up' processing, to theoretical discussions concerning rheology and modeling. Taken from the recently published six volume International Encyclopedia of Composites, this reference volume offers scholarly and practical knowledge of distinguished industry-experts, academics, and government researchers in one accessible and informative handbook. Fibers, processes, and composite reinforcement types, as well as relevant miscellaneous subjects such as property relationships, manufacturing, hybrid reinforcements, and modeling are given detailed treatment. Engineers, materials scientists, and technologists will find the Composite Reinforcement Handbook an invaluable tool.

This volume chronicles the proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Silanes and Other Coupling Agents held under the aegis of MST Conferences, LLC in Orlando, FL, June 11-13, 2003. Silanes have been used for about half a century as coupling agents / adhesion promoters to promote adhesion between dissimilar materials in a variety of situations, e.g., coating technology, adhesive bonding, and reinforced composites. However, recently silanes have found other applications, for example, as corrosion inhibitors. Lately there has been tremendous R&D activity in understanding the mechanism.

Presents the physical and chemcial principles of the sol-gel process of ceramic preparation, at a level suitable for graduate students and practitioners in the field.

First published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The study and application of composite materials are a truly interdisciplinary endeavour that has been enriched by contributions from chemistry, physics, materials science, mechanics and manufacturing engineering. The understanding of the interface (or interphase) in composites is the central point of this interdisciplinary effort. From the early development of composite materials of various nature, the optimization of the interface has been of major importance. While there are many reference books available on composite materials, few of them deal specifically with the science and mechanics of the interface of fiber reinforced composites. Further, many recent advances devoted solely to research in composite interfaces have been scattered in a variety of published literature and have yet to be assembled in a readily accessible form. To this end this book is an attempt to bring together recent developments in the field, both from the materials science and mechanics perspective, in a single convenient volume. The central theme of the book is tailoring the interface properties to optimise the mechanical peformance and structural integrity of composites with enhanced strength/stiffness and fracture toughness (or specific fracture resistance). It deals mainly with interfaces in advanced composites made from high performance fibers, such as glass, carbon, aramid, ultra high modulus polyethylene and some inorganic (e.g. B/W, A12O3, SiC) fibers, and matrix materials encompassing polymers, metals/alloys and ceramics. The book is intended to provide a comprehensive treatment of composite interfaces in such a way that it should be of interest to materials scientists, technologists and practising engineers, as well as graduate students and their supervisors in advanced composites. We hope that this book will also serve as a valuable source of reference to all those involved in the design and research of composite interfaces. The book contains eight chapters of discussions on microstructure-property relationships with underlying fundamental mechanics principles. In Chapter 1, an introduction is given to the nature and definition of interfaces in fiber reinforced composites. Chapter 2 is devoted to the mechanisms of adhesion which are specific to each fiber-matrix system, and the physio-chemical characterization of the interface with regard to the origin of adhesion. The experimental techniques that have been developed to assess the fiber-matrix interface bond quality on a microscopic scale are presented in Chapter 3, along with the techniques of measuring interlaminar/intralaminar strengths and fracture toughness using bulk composite laminates. The applicability and limitations associated with loading geometry and interpretation of test data are compared. Chapter 4 presents comprehensive theoretical analyses based on shear-lag models of the single fiber composite tests, with particular interest being placed on the interface debond process and the nature of the fiber-matrix interfacial bonding. Chapter 5 is devoted to reviewing current techniques of fiber surface treatments which have been devised to improve the bond strength and the fiber-matrix compatibility/stability during the manufacturing processes of composites. The micro-failure mechanisms and their associated theories of fracture toughness of composites are discussed in Chapter 6. The roles of the interface and its effects on the mechanical performance of fiber composites are addressed from several viewpoints. Recent research efforts to augment the transverse and interlaminar fracture toughness by means of controlled interfaces are presented in Chapters 7 and 8.