Design and selection of composites
M.F. Ashby
Troisieme Conference Europeenne sur les Materiaux et les Procedes Avances,
Euromat '93, Paris, June 8-10, 1993

Abstract
Composites combine the properties of two or more components. Conceptual tools are developed which guide the selection of components for making composites which maximise aspects of thermo-mechanical or electro-mechanical performance. There are three key ideas: (a) that of performance indices which describe material performance; (b) that of material-selection charts which display both material properties and performance indices, and (c) that of bounds or limits, based on the micromechanics of the composite system, which bracket the properties of a proposed composite system. Each is described, and an example of the method is given. Progress in developing software which implements a more exact micro-mechanics approach to composite design is outlined.