1. General trends

Organic matrix composites – mainly thermosetting – are now more than half a century old. Over the years, these materials have gradually gained market share thanks to a number of special features, including high specific properties, anisotropy and ease of processing. Marginal one-off applications and small-scale production methods have now been replaced by mass-market applications and industrial mass-production processes. The present, and undoubtedly the future, lies in structural composite parts produced using perfectly mastered industrial processes. Over the past decade, the aerospace industry has ceased to be the exclusive market for high-tech composite parts. These materials have now successfully penetrated the markets for technical and structural parts in the automotive industry (leaf springs, drive shafts, torsion bars) and for safety parts in the nuclear and offshore sectors (fire...