9.1 INTRODUCTION

The world of materials comprises of polymers, metals, ceramics, glasses, natural materials and composites. Revolutionary developments have taken place in recent years because of the highly competitive materials market and emergence of new materials and new processing techniques.

Despite the global oversupply, job losses and plunging prices, the steel industry is on the road to a new era and the positive change is not very far off [1]. The consumption of carbon steel at 800 million tons per annum, dwarfs that of aluminum at 30 million tons, and copper at 15 million tons per annum. It is expected that the steel industry would continue to grow at a rate of 2% driven by developing economics. High strength steel is put to new use in construction of car bodies with the advantage of lower body weight and more efficient fuel consumption without sacrificing the safety standards [2]. New steel sheet forming methods have been developed to improve formability while maintaining productivity. The polymeric materials showed the fastest growth rate (9%) until they began to be substituted by metals, glass and papers, in packaging and construction. Ceramic materials have maintained a steady growth rate and they are finding increased applications in aerospace and the automobile industry.

Composite materials have shown a steady growth rate of about 3% per year. Advanced composite materials, such as fiber glass epoxy and graphite epoxy are finding increased popularity because of their high performance and critical structural applications. For instance, a C-17 transport plane with...