Polymers, Ceramics and Composites
families consisting
of around 15,000 different types of engineering materials such as
adhesives, plastics, rubbers, etc., which are light, corrosion-resistant materials with low strength and stiffness are
commercially available as polymers.
They are usually not suitable for high-temperature applications but are
reasonably inexpensive and can be easily formed into a variety of shapes and
designs.Ceramics have been used in civil structures for centuries.
They are used in many ancient structures that have survived to the present day
- the great pyramid of Giza, the Great Wall of China. These structures show
that ceramics are very resistant to corrosion and wear, and can be
used in many applications, even though they may be brittle.The composite can
be tailor-made to produce a set of properties that are unique and cannot be
provided by the individual constituents alone. Composites can be thought of as a single material that
has been enhanced by the addition of another material.
Typically, composites are a combination of a filler material, either
particles or fibers, and a matrix material that surrounds the
filler, usually a polymer.Besides these materials, alloys, metals, minerals, plasma, fluids etc
are all covering a major chunk of our environment and it is highly impossible
to dream a world without these materials because of their extensive usages.
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Metal matrix composites
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structural materials
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refining
