Types of composite materials Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Types of composite materials - Research Paper Example One good example of a composite material is the disk brake pad. The disk brake pad is made up of ceramic particles that are often times entrenched in soft metal matrix. Other examples include shower stalls, bathtubs and fiberglass. A mud brick is made up of clay, mud, sand and water in a process that is free of fire and is mixed with the aid of binding material including rice husks, coffee husks or maize chaff. This has been practiced since time memorial in the ancient civilization. In mud bricks the matrix is the mad whereas the reinforcing materials are the rice husks, coffee husks or maize chaff. Mud bricks are known to perform well under compression, however when bending forces are exerted on they tend to cave in. This, on further explanation is due to bending forces exerting a tension force. Mud bricks tend to resist pulling forces acting on them, but they tend to be weak when they are crumpled. It is common practice to leave the stiff mixture to dry in the sun for duration of about four weeks. This is common in places where the weather is warmer and there is diminutive timber to provide for the fuel for use in kilns. The use of stucco has been used to increase the life of mud bricks when the kiln dried mud bricks are placed on them. Mud bricks are used in construction industry for building houses, for example, in the implementation of adobe which is an energy saving and environmentally safe way to insulate a house (Measures 126). It is also used in constructing insulation material such as furnace. In this case it could be used to melt metal such as aluminum for making aircraft components. Laminate is a kind of composite material that is made up of layers or lamina that have unidirectional composite material. Some of the examples of laminar composite materials include continuous and aligned fiber reinforced plastics with matrix such as epoxy and polyester (Inova 56). In the