Composite materials

Composite materials

• Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineered materials made from two or more materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties and which remain separate and distinct on a macroscopic level within the finished structure.

Engineered wood• Engineered wood includes a wide variety of

different products such as plywood, oriented strand board, wood plastic composite (recycled wood fiber in polyethylene matrix), Pykrete (sawdust in ice matrix), Plastic-impregnated or laminated paper or textiles, Arborite, Formica (plastic) and Micarta.

• Other engineered laminate composites, such as Mallite, use a central core of end grain balsa wood, bonded to surface skins of light alloy or GRP (glass reinforced plastic). These generate low-weight, high rigidity materials.

Wood-plastic composite

• Wood-plastic composite (commonly abbreviated as WPC) is a recyclable composite material lumber or timber made of recycled plastic and wood wastes.

Advantges

• A major advantage over wood is the ability of the material to be molded.

• It can also be bent and fixed to form strong arching curves.

• Wood-plastic composites behave like wood and can be shaped using conventional woodworking tools.

• Moisture-resistant and resistant to rot, although they are not as rigid as wood and may slightly deform in extremely hot weather.

• A major selling point of these materials is their lack of need for paint as they are manufactured in a variety of colors, but are widely available in grays and earth tones.

Oriented strand board

• Oriented strand board, or OSB, or waferboard, or Sterling board (UK), is an engineered wood product formed by layering strands (flakes) of wood in specific orientations. In appearance it may have a rough and variegated surface with the individual strips (around 2.5 by 15 cm (approx. 1 in by 6 in) each) lying unevenly across each other

Oriented strand board

• It is manufactured in wide mats from cross-oriented layers of thin, rectangular wooden strips compressed and bonded together with wax and resin adhesives (95% wood, 5% wax and resin).

OSB- Before being pressed

Resins as composites

• Typically, most common composite materials, including fiberglass, carbon fiber, and kevlar, include at least two parts, the substrate and the resin.