Overview of Composite Materials and their Automotive Applications

This chapter presents an overview of recent automotive applications of advanced composites. A summary of available composites that could be used in automotive industries is presented. The chapter work mainly deals with new research and studies done in order to investigate the present and potential use of composites for automotive structural components. In general, composite materials are composed from at least two materials, where one is the reinforcing phase and the other is the matrix. In the automotive industry, some applications of metal matrix composites (MMC) can be found, such as brake rotors, pistons, connecting rods and integrally cast MMC engine blocks. Two main methods are used to determine the mechanical behavior of composites: analytical models and numerical models