Toward comprehensive research and application of composites

Although remarkable progress has been achieved in the field of composite research in the last two decades, such progress was made mainly in application research, such as the design of new composite materials, performance evaluations of composites, etc. The basic theory of composites is still the same as that of twenty years ago. New composites theory will have to be developed in the next two decades. An example is in the reinforcement of rubbers by carbon black. Its reinforcement is remarkable and the strength of the composite becomes about ten to twenty times that of the original pure rubber, achieved by putting a small volume of carbon black particles in the rubber; this reinforcement effect could not have been predicted by the old theories. Textile composites will become more important materials in the future. As to their application, freedom of design of textile structure will enable the design of much more sophisticated fiber-composite materials and intelligent materials in the future.