Copyrighted Materials Copyright2009 DEStech Publications Retrieved from www.knovel.com Preface This book is a culmination of efforts and experience that I have gath- ered over the past 15 years from teaching the course of manufacturing of composites at Concordia University,from training engineers at local air- craft companies,and from research activities on analysis,design and manufacturing of composites over the past three decades. I came to work on composites from a mechanical engineering back- ground.This may be similar to many other people in the late 1970s and 1980s.I began work on mechanics of composites.For mechanics prob- lems,we assumed that resin and fibers possess certain properties and that most resins would behave similarly as long as they are of the same cate- gory (for example,epoxies).As I got to know more about the field,I came into contact with people in various industries from which I found that there exists a world of knowledge and experience for composites manufacturing:in order to have sufficient expertise in composites,one must know not only the mechanics of the materials/structures,but also the intricacies of their manufacturing processes. When I listened to presentations or attended industrial shows on compos- ites manufacturing,the discussions and/or exhibits of composite parts were impressive.However,the question that always came to my mind was:what is the principle behind the manufacturing of these parts?How can one grasp the concepts and the principles behind them? There are a few books on composites manufacturing that exist in the lit- erature.One well-known book is that of George Lubin (Handbook of Composites),which is a comprehensive presentation of many aspects of composites and composites manufacturing.Another book is that of Brent Strong(Fundamentals of Composites Manufacturing).This book presents the principles of composite manufacturing,describing the ingredients: matrix,fibers,interface and the main processes for composite manufactur- viiPreface This book is a culmination of efforts and experience that I have gath￾ered over the past 15 years from teaching the course of manufacturing of composites at Concordia University, from training engineers at local air￾craft companies, and from research activities on analysis, design and manufacturing of composites over the past three decades. I came to work on composites from a mechanical engineering back￾ground. This may be similar to many other people in the late 1970s and 1980s. I began work on mechanics of composites. For mechanics prob￾lems, we assumed that resin and fibers possess certain properties and that most resins would behave similarly as long as they are of the same cate￾gory (for example, epoxies). As I got to know more about the field, I came into contact with people in various industries from which I found that there exists a world of knowledge and experience for composites manufacturing: in order to have sufficient expertise in composites, one must know not only the mechanics of the materials/structures, but also the intricacies of their manufacturing processes. When I listened to presentations or attended industrial shows on compos￾ites manufacturing, the discussions and/or exhibits of composite parts were impressive. However, the question that always came to my mind was: what is the principle behind the manufacturing of these parts? How can one grasp the concepts and the principles behind them? There are a few books on composites manufacturing that exist in the lit￾erature. One well-known book is that of George Lubin (Handbook of Composites), which is a comprehensive presentation of many aspects of composites and composites manufacturing. Another book is that of Brent Strong (Fundamentals of Composites Manufacturing). This book presents the principles of composite manufacturing, describing the ingredients: matrix, fibers, interface and the main processes for composite manufactur￾vii