Interfaces, Cracks and Toughness: City Cars Made from Composites

John Jostins, Kevin Kendall

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The purpose of this chapter is to follow two converging strands of thought from the 20th century:- the first is that cracks can be stopped by interfaces within composite materials, thus providing tough new materials for aircraft and city cars which have weight and crash problems [1]; the second is that moulding high quality fibres such as carbon into polymer resins can deliver competitive body parts for vehicles, thereby advancing car performance radically [2]. These two concepts were initially different because the first was philosophical and scientific whereas the second was pragmatic and based on racing competition. However, both proved necessary to understand the potential benefits of carbon and other fibres to the massive city car market now growing through the 21st century, which is demanding 2 billion new vehicles, with 1 bn in China alone [3,4].
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Structural Integrity of Carbon Fiber Composites
    Subtitle of host publicationFifty Years of Progress and Achievement of the Science, Development, and Applications
    EditorsPeter W. R. Beaumont, Constantinos Soutis, Alma Hodzic
    Place of PublicationSwitzerland
    PublisherSpringer Verlag
    Pages645-663
    Number of pages18
    VolumeV
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-319-46120-5
    ISBN (Print)978-3-319-46118-2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 29 Nov 2016

    Keywords

    • composites
    • crack stopping
    • theory of composite toughening
    • composites in cars

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Interfaces, Cracks and Toughness: City Cars Made from Composites'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this