There has been growing interest in the use of a range of lightweight materials to lower energy costs in many industries, especially transportation. World economics have changed greatly in the last decade, less military expenditure in the West, new markets opening up in regions that have not had easy access to the latest in materials and processing technology.

The ability to replace steel, concrete and even wood in transportation, buildings, construction and other infrastructure engineering, marine and chemical industries with lighter materials has been known for some decades. Today, there is renewed awareness of the properties of plastics-based components and structures to achieve engineering requirements yet utilise minimal resources.

Longevity of such structures as compared with the traditional routes has also provided future potential savings of materials, energy and other resources that may therefore be put to other uses.

In this report Rapra has reviewed some of the resin systems used for these lightweight applications, especially those based on polyester and polyurethane; the reinforcements employed; and the techniques developed and used to convert them efficiently and as economically as possible into components and structures.

Chapters cover background chemistry and manufacture of the materials; commercial products; their supply and who makes them; the demand and consumption of these products by the marketplace; a review of the major industrial sectors that consume the composites; an examination of the major processing techniques used to convert the materials into components including new developments and trends; plus a look at todays environmental considerations and concerns within the life cycle of the composites under review.

As can be seen from the sections on end-use sectors there is much activity within the automotive and construction industries. Common themes are weight reduction and a minimisation of maintenance during the life of the structure into which the composite has been incorporated, whether a vehicle, a bridge, a tramcar or oil platform.

Development programmes and case studies are encouraging the wider use of composites for structural as well as enclosure or "cladding" applications. This is especially so in the aerospace sector where larger scale production, more efficient use of materials and newer techniques have shown that more consistent and higher quality can be achieved. Composites are becoming more widely specified for primary and secondary structures with each succeeding airframe design.

Corrosion resistance and weight reduction are attributes of composites that are attracting more interest in these materials within the chemical, oil and wider process engineering sectors.