General aspects of reinforced plastics

Reinforced Plastics is a separate major and important segment in the plastic industry
worldwide. Industry continues to go through a major evolution in RP structural and
semi-structural products meeting performance and cost requirements in different
markets particularly since the 1940s. Many different RPs are used, each with their
own capabilities process-wise and performance-wise. RPs have been developed to
produce exceptionally strong materials that perform in different environments (Figure
1.1 and Table 1.1).