Introduction

€ u€r Seydibeyoğlu*, Amar K. Mohanty†, Manjusri Misra†

M. Ozg
*Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Izmir, Turkey, †University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
1
The materials science and materials world are having a new paradigm, and many
materials are now transforming to composite materials, replacing many metallic mate-
rials and ceramic materials. Metallic materials with well-known properties and
well-known manufacturing techniques at an affordable price are still the first prefer-
ence for the materials selection; however, in many applications, due to weight prob-
lems, corrosion, and fatigue issues, composites are becoming more and more
important. The corrosion costs consume 3%–3.5% of the whole-world gross domestic
product and contribute to many failures in the structural components [1]. Moreover,
processing conditions for the composites and polymers are much more
energy-efficient and more labor friendly compared to metallic materials. Ceramic
materials with high-temperature performance and good strength are of great impor-
tance, but still, they lack the elasticity for many industrial applications.
In the materials’ area, the composites especially fiber-reinforced composites are
becoming more desired specifically in the transportation industry where fuel con-
sumption is of great importance, and reduced CO2 is another big issue. Composites
are very critical for many automotive industries, aerospace, and marine applications.
Carbon footprint and sustainability are the key factors in today’s world, and compos-
ites are the key materials for these problems. Especially in the last decade, the com-
posite aerostructures have grown more than 100% with compounded annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 11.1% [2].
As the world’s energy need is increasing, the composites are also very significant in
the area of renewable energy sources like wind-turbine blades. Energy-storage tanks
that can store natural gas, hydrogen, and many other critical gasses are of great impor-
tance for the composites. Restoring present pipelines with carbon composites has been
also very critical for the gas-piping industry. A report in 2015 prepared by Global
Wind Energy Council demonstrated the exponential growth of wind turbines [3]. It
was reported that between the years of 2000 and 2015, there was 25-fold increase
in the installed wind-turbine capacity [3].
Composites have been used in the construction industry since the foundation of
steel reinforced concrete, but for certain areas, polymer composites with high flexi-
bility of forming offer numerous advantages, especially in the area of reinforcing cur-
rent buildings under the risk of earthquake attack.
Sporting goods such as golf, sailing boats, fishing roads, and new technology bikes
are highly interesting engineering applications with very important new technological
breakthroughs like the use of graphene in the bicycle frame being a superlight bicycle,
which is very vital.

Fiber Technology for Fiber-Reinforced Composites. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101871-2.00001-1

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 Fiber Technology for Fiber-Reinforced Composites

Another important application is the defense industry where the composites play
key role in the battlefield due to weight saving and better ballistic performing mate-
rials. Aerospace structures in the military applications with engineered properties and
nano-enhanced structures are very critical for the current defense industry. For mili-
tary application, weight reduction, and structural features are not the only criteria;
radio interference and radar absorption properties are also very critical.
As listed above, there are thousands of application areas for composites, but trans-
portation, energy, and defense are top priority areas for the composites. This key tech-
nology triggers many companies’ interests, and they invest significant funding for the
composite-materials research. Recent technological improvements in the nanotech-
nology and biotechnology have strategic influence in the composite materials.
Another issue for many engineering applications is the cost of the raw materials,
cost of the production line, and the final price of the products. There are many new
approaches to lower the price of the carbon fiber, whereas new reinforcing fibers from
natural resources are offering many new low-cost solutions, thereby providing socio-
economic wealth opportunities for the developing countries where they can have good
materials.
As described, composite materials have utmost importance for the whole humanity
and engineering field that can influence the whole community. Composite materials
have been manufactured since very early times such as BC 3000 with natural fiber
stone composites for housing in the time of Sumerians in Middle East. However, since
the 1950s, with the discovery of glass fiber and other fibers, polymer-matrix compos-
ites and especially fiber-reinforced polymer composites have been of great impor-
tance. Various disciplines including chemistry, chemical engineering, materials
science and engineering, textile engineering, and mechanical engineering have been
predominantly working in the fiber-reinforced polymer composites to manufacture
better materials for the humanity.
There have been numerous books on the composite materials, composite mechan-
ics, composite interface, biocomposites, and nanocomposites. However, there is no
single book on the fiber technology that is devoted to the composite materials. There
are a significant number of textile books on man-made fibers that are used primarily in
the area of textiles. For the composite-material world, this book will be the handbook
for the fiber technology. The book covers many important reinforcing fibers such as
glass, carbon, aramid, basalt, ceramic, and natural nanofibers. This book will be very
helpful for the undergraduate and graduate students. The most important users will be
the composite industry where fibers are used extensively with very limited fiber prop-
erty information.
One of the most important aspects of this book is that some of the authors are from
the industry especially glass fiber and carbon fiber chapters that are written by the
industry experts with PhD degrees and whom they have really worked in the glass-
and carbon-fiber manufacturing plants. Many books and scientific articles are written
without industry information, lacking real-case applications, and moreover lacking
trade secrets of the processes. Still, not all process details could be shared, but at least,
a good overview of the production techniques for these fibers has been written in
depth by these two industry experts with scientific background.
Introduction 3

The book is enriched with faculty members from mechanical engineering depart-
ment to exploit the mechanics of composites and to understand design criteria for the
composite materials. One chapter is devoted to understand the surface properties of
fibers and their influence on the composite properties. This part is written by faculty
members from textile engineering department with textile chemicals and
surface-coating expertise.
Moreover, new trends in the composite materials with biotechnology and natural
fibers have been explained in detail. There are two chapters on biotechnology. One
chapter is a kind of traditional review article on natural fiber composites, whereas
the second chapter deals with the influences of the biotechnology on natural fiber
composites such as the use of bioresins and biolubricants enhanced with life-cycle
analysis.
As the technology is developing, nanotechnology is also very critical for the com-
posites like in any engineering field, and two chapters are devoted to nanotechnology.
One chapter is written by nanofiber experts, demonstrating the importance of
nanofibers in the area of composites. The second chapter deals with new develop-
ments in the nanotechnology for the composites such as graphene, carbon nanotubes,
and nanofibers on the interfacial properties. Furthermore, dendritic polymers and
hyperbranched nanopolymers have influence the performance and processing of
the resins on the composite structures.
With all these important developments in the composite area, this book will be very
helpful for an engineer dealing with many important industrial applications. This book
will also be very helpful for the scientists working in the area of material science and
mechanical design to better understand fiber-polymer interaction and understand sig-
nificant outcomes of this important area.
Last but not the least, this book will be very helpful for the students (graduate/
undergraduate) in the universities that are studying textile engineering, mechanical
engineering, material engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, biotechnology,
and nanotechnology.

References
[1] Schmidt G. World corrosion organization. World Corrosion Organization; 2009.
[2] Composites Forecasts and Consulting LLC; January 2014 Report.
[3] http://www.gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Global-Cumulative-Installed-Wind-
Capacity-2000-2015.jpg.