Owner's manual
Denition: engineered materials made from two or more
constituent materials with signicantly different physical or
chemical properties which remain separate and distinct on a
macroscopic level within the nished structure
Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC’s) • - The most common. Also known as FRP
- Fibre Reinforced Polymers - these materials use a polymer-based resin as
the matrix, and a variety of bres such as glass, carbon and aramid as the
reinforcement.
Metal Matrix Composites (MMC’s)• - Increasingly found in the automotive industry,
the matrix is a metal such as aluminium, the reinforcement bres such as silicon
carbide.
Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC’s)• - Used in very high temperature environ-
ments, these materials use a ceramic as the matrix and reinforce it with short
bres, or whiskers such as silicon carbide and boron nitride.
What is composite
material?
SANDVIK COROMANT USER’S GUIDE - COMPOSITE SOLUTIONS 8