Structural Health Monitoring for Composite Materials

A composite material can be defined as a combination of two or more distinct materials at a macroscopic level to attain new properties that can’t be achieved by those of individual components acting alone. Different from metallic alloys, each material keeps its own chemical, physical and mechanical properties [1]. Composite materials have reinforcing and matrix phases. The reinforcing phase with higher strength and stiffness is usually fibers, flakes or particles while the matrix phase can be polymers, ceramics or metals. Composite materials are commonly classified into four types, i.e., fibrous composite materials, laminated composite materials, particulate composite materials and the others [2].