Composite Materials Science and Engineering in the New Century: The Balancing Roles of Imagination, Intuition and Knowledge

Our meeting will be the first conference on composites of the new millennium. This has no deep significance but it is nevertheless an appropriate time for questioning and reflection. Timely issues are: What has been accomplished in our field since its inception, several decades ago; perhaps more importantly and more interestingly, what kind of scientific and technological achievements can we reasonably (or unreasonably) expect in the few decades to come?

The challenges we are facing in the field of composites are numerous. They range from the need to understand the full meaning of novel approaches and concepts such as biomimetics, to the possibility of using new forms of reinforcement at the nanometric level, or matrices with outstanding properties, to the need and exploitation of new manufacturing techniques, and the creation of new designs. A practical and universal technique for the measurement of interfacial adhesion in an absolute way is still unavailable. So is the quantification of scaling effects from laboratory measurements to real composite parts. Inevitable buzzwords at this time include smart composites, nanocomposites, micromachining, biomimetics etc., which all reflect the need for novelty.

The theme of the conference will address the ways to face these challenges, to generate original approaches, to fulfill our need for novelty. This may be expressed in the following way: "Composite Materials Science and Engineering in the New Century: The Balancing Roles of Imagination, Intuition and Knowledge". The conference sessions and lectures will, this time, be concept-driven. This approach, I feel, is the best way to address the theme of the conference and is appropriate for the first composites conference of the new millennium.