Composite material reinforcement materials. Another important factor is the gross quantity of material to be produced. Large quantities can be used to justify high capital expenditures for rapid and automated manufacturing technology. Small production quantities are accommodated with lower capital expenditures but higher labour and tooling costs at a correspondingly slower rate. Many commercially produced composites use a polymer matrix material often called a resin solution. There are many different polymers available depending upon the starting raw ingredients. There are several broad categories, each with numerous variations. The most common are known as polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy, phenolic, polyimide, polyamide, polypropylene, PEEK,
Hybrid material chemical interactions, so called interpenetrating networks (IPNs) are formed, which is for example the case if a sol–gel material is formed in presence of an organic polymer or vice versa. Both materials described belong to class I hybrids. Class II hybrids are formed when the discrete inorganic building blocks, e.g. clusters, are covalently bonded to the organic polymers or inorganic and organic polymers are covalently connected with each other. The term nanocomposite is used if the combination of organic and inorganic structural units yield a material with composite properties. That is to say that the original properties of the separate