Engineering Mechanics of Composite Materials

The field of composite materials is rapidly expanding with increasing applications in aircraft, automobiles, leisure and biomedical products, and infrastructure. Composite materials have unique qualities of high strength and stiffness, are lightweight, and can be designed to suit the intended application. This up-to-date introductory textbook on the mechanics of structural composite materials is aimed at both undergraduate and beginning graduate students and also at the newcomer to the field of composites. The material presented has been drawn from extensive course notes developed by both authors over many years. Beginning with basic concepts, definitions, and an overview of the current status of composites technology, the reader is taken through the theory and experimental results of research with many types of composites materials. The authors emphasize computational procedures and include flow charts for computations. The design methodology and optimization process for composite structures are described and illustrated with specific examples. One extensive chapter is devoted to experimental characterization and testing, including the latest test methods and ASTM standards. A wide variety of instructional sample problems and solutions are included. Engineering Mechanics of Composite Materials is an essential teaching tool and a self-study reference in composite materials.

About the Authors

Dr. Isaac M. Daniel is Professor of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Departments at Northwestern University. He was previously Director of the Mechanics of Materials Laboratory at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been involved in teaching and research for over 25 years and has pioneered many test methods for composites. He has published numerous technical papers, and co-authored the first published monograph on Experimental Mechanics of Composites.

Dr. Ori Ishai is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. For the past 25 years, he has been involved continuously in the teaching of Mechanics of Composite Materials, and has initiated many new research studies in the field at the Technion. He has published numerous articles on structural composite materials.