COMPOSITES COMBINE FIBERS AND A THERMOSET MEDIUM

The composite industry was launched in the early 1960s with the development of fiberglass, which consists of short glass fibers in a matrix of some thermoset resin. Fiberglass composites are tough, lightweight, and inexpensive to 

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L fibers. Combine the two, however, and you have a composite material chat is more than twice as strong and just as lightweight. Composite materials are made hy incorporating fibers into any thermoset medium, such as thermoset plastics, metals, or even ceramics. Examples of composite materials arc shown in Figure I8.35. 

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