The History of Composites: People, Science, Technology and Society introduces the reader to key milestones in the discovery and technological development of composite materials, including their processes and applications. Sections give a “bird’s eye view” that surveys the basic concept of composites from ancient times right through to the crucial inventions of glass fibers and manmade plastics in the 1930’s. Further content explores the revolution of carbon fibers and their nano-descendants graphene and carbon nanotubes while also analyzing the dynamics of innovations to further illustrate how fundamental discoveries have led to the creation of new products or improved existing ones.
By presenting these fundamental discoveries, the authors hope to inspire both researchers and engineers in their quest to develop further innovations in composite materials in the future, including both their processes and applications.
Table of Contents
Part I: General history of composites, a “bird’s eye view” by Ignaas Verpoest, KU Leuven, Belgium 1. A further elaboration of the two feature articles published in the JEC Composites Magazine, giving a “bird’s eye view” of the history of composites from ancient times up until the present day
Part II: Individual case study contributions on specific aspects of the history of composites 2. A Revolution in Materials Science 3. Unique Processes 4. Innovations and Breakthroughs in Applications 5. The theory behind composites, and how it evolved 6. Experimental characterization of composites 7. Professional organizations and journals
Authors
Ignaas Verpoest Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Prof. Ignaas VERPOEST received his master's degree (1972) and PhD (1982) in Materials Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. As a full professor (from 1990 until 2013) he was guiding a group which consisted of (average 2008-2013) 8 postdoc researchers and 25 PhD-students carrying out research on the meso-mechanics of (textile-based) composites, nano-engineered composites, natural fibre-reinforced (bio)polymers and advanced production methods for composites. Since September 2013, he has been an emeritus professor at the KU Leuven. He continues to be involved in research projects on carbon fibre and natural fibre-reinforced composites and has a special interest in "the history of composites�, and the relationship between composites and design(ers). Over the past few years, he has organized several exhibitions on "composites and design(ers)� at the Design Museum in Gent and has collaborated with JEC-World (Paris) for several exhibitions on the history of composites. Prof. Verpoest was holder of the Toray Chair in Composite Materials at the KU Leuven and is Chairman of the European Scientific Committee of CELC, the European Confederation on Flax and Hemp. He was President of the European Society for Composite Materials (ESCM), and the International Committee on Composite Materials (ICCM).
Stepan V Lomov Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Professor Stepan V. Lomov graduated with an M.S. in Phys.-Mech in 1978 from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and then went on to complete his PhD in1985. He was awarded his Dr Hab. on textile materials science in 1995, from St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design. Since 1999, Professor Lomov has been working at the KU Leuven, Belgium, in the Department of Materials Engineering. He was coordinator of the Composite Materials Group between 2013 to 2020. He was also holder of the Toray Chair in Composite Materials at the KU Leuven between 2013 to 2022 and has been an Emeritus Professor since 2020. His research areas include composites and textiles science and engineering: internal structure, manufacturing, in-service mechanical behaviour, nanocomposites, experimental damage mechanics, micro- and meso-level geometrical and mechanical models.
Yentl Swolfs Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Belgium.
Prof. Yentl SWOLFS obtained his master's degree in materials engineering from the KU Leuven in 2010. In January 2015, he obtained his PhD in Materials Engineering. The title of his thesis was: "Hybridisation of Self-reinforced Composites: Modelling and Verifying a Novel Hybrid Concept". This PhD was performed under the framework of the EU-FP7 project HIVOCOMP. After completing his PhD, he spent a year at Imperial College London on a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship working with Prof. Silvestre Pinho. He then went on to hold a 3-year FWO postdoctoral fellowship at the KU Leuven working on fibre-hybrid composites with high-performance polymer fibres. He was appointed research professor in the Department of Materials Engineering in 2019, where he leads the research line on "Micro- and Meso-structural design of composites�. He is the coordinator of the Composite Materials Group at the KU Leuven, and head of the XCT Core Facility of KU Leuven
Mahoor Mehdikhani Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Dr. Mahoor Mehdikhani is a senior postdoc researcher in materials engineering at the KU Leuven. He obtained his M.Sc. in materials engineering from the KU Leuven, in 2014 and then went on to complete his PhD with the same research group in 2018, focusing on the "Effect of Voids on Damage Development in Carbon Fiber-reinforced Polymer Composites�. He has been granted two prestigious postdoc scholarships: Junior and Senior FWO Postdoctoral Fellowships, funding his research on damage analysis in composites for a total of six years. Moreover, he has conducted a four-month funded research stay at the Pontificia Universidad Cat�lica de Chile, in Santiago with Prof. Diego Celentano (2023). He has (co-)authored 20 papers in top journals and attended ~15 international conferences. He is an active reviewer for several international journals.
