Industrial Uses for Engineered Composites by Parts Manufacturers

Last updated on March 12th, 2025 at 11:25 am

The use of composites dates back millennia, to the earliest days of recorded human history. Ancient Egyptians made their swords and armor from composites, while people in what is now Israel used bricks reinforced with straw for building. In the 13^th century, Mongols used composite bows to conquer most of Asia in the 13^th century, made from sinew and horn bonded together by animal glue, with a bamboo core that provided both flexibility and strength.

The materials out of which composites are made today have changed markedly, with fewer natural ingredients and more that are engineered. Composites consist of at least two distinct materials that are joined together without a chemical bond to create a custom composite. Components for an array of industrial purposes made from these engineered composites are key to applications throughout our modern world.

Custom Composite Components in Industry  

Engineered composites are generally categorized into three categories, depending on the matrix they use. Matrices can be made from ceramics, polymers or metals, from which custom composite components can then be made. Matrices made from polymers often include lighter weight yet strong materials like carbon or glass fibers. Engineered composites with metal matrices resist wear while also conducting heat more efficiently, while ceramic composites resist and maintain their form in high temperatures. The properties of these engineered composites make them useful for specific purposes.

Applications for Custom Composite Components 

Manufacturers have used engineered composites to make custom components used in the production of various products, from aircraft to architectural structures and from wind turbines to bridges. Composite parts are used to make products stronger and more durable while also often reducing their weight. Engineered composites can help products resist corrosion, cracking or wear, while others may insulate from electricity or heat and many composites have multiple useful characteristics. While the aerospace and automotive sectors use custom composite components more than other industries, engineered composites are used for an array of manufactured goods.

Engineered Composites in the Aerospace Industry

Custom composite components are used extensively in the aerospace sector. With an incomparable strength-to-weight ratio, engineered composites are ideal materials for structural parts of an aircraft. This leads to aircraft weighing a quarter less, making them more cost-effective and fuel efficient. Carbon fiber composites are often used for an airplane’s tail and wings due to their rigidity and strength. Custom composite components are used throughout the aircraft, including the doors, fuselage, interiors and propulsion system.

Applications for engineered composites in the aerospace industry include:

• Aircraft frames: Engineered composites are used for aileron control surfaces, fuselage paneling, rudder, tail, wing ribs, wing spars and other aircraft components.
• Airplane engines: Aircraft nacelles, compressors, fan blades and turbine blades often include engineered composites.
• Helicopters: Rotor blades and swashplate components often are made from engineered composites.
• Spacecraft: Custom composite components made with carbon fibers are often used for benches, fairings, manipulator arms, reflectors for antennae, rocket engines, satellite structures and solar panels, while glass fiber composites are commonly used for thermal insulation.

Custom composite components continue to be developed within the aerospace industry, allowing for new and more versatile aircraft designs. The future of engineered composites in the sector will likely also include nanocomposites that enhance material properties, smart materials that adjust automatically to changing conditions and systems that monitor aircraft structures.

Engineered Composites in the Auto Industry 

As with aerospace applications, the strength-to-weight ratio of engineered composites has transformed the automotive sector, while making vehicle components more corrosion-resistant, fuel efficient and heat-resistance. Auto manufacturers no longer rely on metals and alloys, depending instead on resins reinforced with carbon or glass fibers that offer material properties that improve a vehicle’s performance. Custom composite components are included in electrical, fuel and other systems.

Applications for engineered composites in the auto industry include:

• Body: Carbon fiber composites are often used for body panels, chassis and other structural parts of vehicles. 
• Brakes: Engineered composites containing carbon fibers are often used for high-performance braking systems.
• Interiors: To balance aesthetics against performance, engineered composites are often used for dashboards, door panels and other interior components.
• Powertrain: Pistons and other parts of a vehicle’s powertrain sometimes include custom composite components.
• Roll bars: Various types of composites are used in vehicles like pickups or racecars to prevent rollovers.
• Trim: Exterior aesthetics are often used to enhance appearance while reducing weight for better performance.

As environmental standards become more stringent, auto makers look to lightweight composites to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. As electric vehicles become more common, engineered composites with material properties that enhance their performance will also likely play a role.

Engineered Composites in the Defense Industry

As with the aerospace industry, the defense sector depends on constant technological innovation. Custom composite components with high strength-to-weight ratios have enhanced performance for military vehicles and kit while making soldiers safer. Engineered composites with properties designed to better withstand harsh battlefield conditions continue to be developed to support the role of the military.

Applications for engineered composites in the defense industry include:

• Helicopters: Composite blades offer better lift and overall performance.
• Military aircraft airframes: Ailerons, flaps, fuselage segments, leading edges, stabilizers and wing are made using lightweight, strong engineered composites. 
• Military aircraft engines: Engine cowlings, fan blades and nacelles made from composites proved better fuel efficiency and heat resistance.
• Missiles: Airframes, controls, nozzles and spacers for ballistic missiles all include high-strength, lightweight custom composite components.
• Navy ships: Engineered composites augment the corrosion resistance and hydrodynamic efficiency of ship hulls, while decks that include custom composite components reduce weight and improve durability.
• Radar systems: Radomes for protecting radar systems against weather and other factors while allowing radar waves through are often made from engineered composites.
• Submarines: Fairings, pressurized hulls and sonar domes for submarines all use engineered composites to enhance stealth and other aspects of performance.
• Tactical gear: Night vision goggles, noise reduction headsets and other tactical equipment are often made with custom composite components.

For military aircraft, epoxy-based composites are preferred for their low weight and various material properties. Additionally, engineered composites are being used to make military vehicles more fuel efficient while not compromising safety.  

Engineered Composites for Medical Applications

Carbon fiber composites in prostheses have dramatically changed the lives of amputees. Not only do prostheses made with custom composite components offer better strength and lower weights, but they’re also more biocompatible. Meanwhile, these same biocompatible composites can support skin regeneration in burn victims or to repair organ tissue.

Applications for engineered composites in the medical industry include:

• Tissue repair: Custom composites with porous structures help mimic tissue matrices, enabling cartilage, skin or other tissues to regenerate.
• Orthopedic implants: Prosthetics for arms, hands, hips, knees and other implants often use carbon fiber reinforced polymers that are strong and lightweight.
• Skull reconstruction: Engineered composites can be customized for skull reconstruction after brain surgery.
• Dentistry: Commonly, engineered composites are used that imitate the feel, look and structure of natural teeth.
• Vascular stents: Stents that expand to treat blocked blood vessels are often made from engineered composites to provide both flexibility and strength.
• Surgical implements: Durable and lightweight composites are used for an array of tools used for surgeries.
• Drug delivery systems: Controlled release drug delivery systems implanted within the body can include custom composite components.
• Radiology: X-ray and other radiology equipment use custom composite components for mammogram machines and protective shielding from radiation, while engineered composites are often used for carbon plates, filters, grids, imaging plates, ionization chambers and rulers used in radiology.

Engineered composites containing nanomaterials with specific properties also show great promise in repairing nerve damage and restoring heart tissue.

Engineered Composites in the Energy Sector

The energy industry as a whole uses custom composite components for a variety of applications, including for electrical insulation. The renewable energy sector in particular benefits from engineered composites. Carbon fiber composites are used in wind turbine construction to enable longer blades that increase efficiency and power output. Yet equipment for both conventional and renewable sources of energy benefits from the properties that advanced composites provide.

Applications for engineered composites in the energy industry include:

• Energy storage: Lightweight and strong enclosures made from engineered composites support battery packs to provide structural integrity while handling heat dissipation, with electrode structures often integrating composite materials that improve longevity and performance.
• Fuel cells: Electricity-conducting bipolar plates, gas diffusion layers and other custom composite components are often used in fuel cell stacks.
• Gas power: Hydrogen and natural gas used to generate electricity perform better in a liquified state that can only be achieved when brought to temperatures around 250 to 260°C (-418 to -436°F), which involves custom composite components like cryogenic neck tubes.
• Geothermal drilling: Pipes and other components used in geothermal drilling processes often use engineered composites that can endure higher pressures and temperatures.
• Nuclear power plants: Ceramic composites are embedded with uranium and used for fuel, while other engineered composites are used to separate coolant from the reactor’s core.
• Offshore wind turbines: Engineered composites that are resistant to corrosion are often used in the construction of foundations for offshore wind turbines.
• Oil and gas: Production of oil and gas depends on specialized parts, including specialty canvases made from engineered composites to protect workers, frac plugs made from filament wound glass epoxies to plug wells and other custom composite components.
• Power transmission: Core conductors made from engineered composites augment power line efficiency, enabling transmission of higher currents than conventional steel cores at lower temperatures; dielectric properties and weather resistance are properties preferred for custom composite components like housings for electrical insulators.
• Solar: Frames for solar panels are often made from high strength, lightweight and weather resistant engineered composites, while solar reflectors that can reflect sunlight with precision sometimes are used for concentrated solar array power systems.
• Wind turbines: Spar caps made from engineered composites with carbon fibers provide sufficient stiffness and strength to bear wind loads while reducing weight for greater efficiency, while the nacelle is often made up of custom composite components for controls, gearbox housing and hub to protect against thermal and vibratory stress.

Engineered composites will perform a vital task as the world increases its reliance on renewable energy sources to power modern society.

Engineered Composites in Water Treatment

The versatile properties of polymers used in advanced composites have also proven useful for facilities that treat water, including for custom composite components in certain types of pumps. Water treatment facilities benefit from these engineered composites’ corrosion resistance, low density, rigidity, strength, thermal insulation and other characteristics.

Applications for engineered composites in the water treatment industry include:

• Desalination membranes: Advanced composites are being used to develop highly efficient membranes for removing salt from seawater.
• Filtration systems: Custom composite components like housings, plates and support structures are often used in filtration systems to increase strength to better withstand fluctuations in water pressure.
• Odor control covers: Custom composite components used to cover wastewater tanks can minimize foul odors.
• Piping systems: Due to the abrasive, acidic, basic, corrosive and otherwise aggressive materials flowing through pipe systems, engineered components that can withstand these conditions are often used to transport chemicals, effluent, treated water and wastewater in treatment plants.
• Process vessels: Mixing chambers, reactor tanks and other vessels used in purifying water in treatment facilities often are made from chemical-resistant composites.
• Pump impellers: Engineered composites that are lightweight and wear resistant help pumps handle abrasive substances while treating water.
• Storage tanks: Lightweight and durable, engineered composites are often used for storing chemicals, sludge and treated water.
• Structural supports: Beams and columns made from engineered composites are often used in water treatment facilities due to their good strength-to-weight ratio.

Custom composite components support the equipment to rehabilitate water for drinking, but they’re used for other water treatment applications as well. Engineered composites used in water treatment are integral to the electronic, food processing, pharmaceutical and other industries for producing technical water for their processes.

Applications of Engineered Composites in Other Industries 

Custom composite components are in many manufactured products. Polyesters reinforced with glass fibers are used for partitions and door hinges. Other polyester composites integrated with sisal fibers are used for door panels, partitions and roofing, while kitchen sinks are often made with sand infused into acrylic resin. Phenolic resins are often used for composite bearings, which ensure the proper functioning of many products.  

Applications for engineered composites in other industries include:

• Constructing architectural structures, long-span roofs and other elements of large buildings.
• Designing buildings that are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
• Fabricating custom composite components for cranes, machine tools and other industrial equipment.
• Fabricating fishing rods, handlebars for bicycles, hockey sticks, kites, surfboards, tennis rackets, windsurfing masts and other sports equipment.
• Making custom composite components like bearings and gears.
• Preventing erosion in high-pressure municipal piping through use of resins reinforced with glass fibers.
• Producing shingles for roofs, structural integrated panels and other materials used by the construction industry.
• Replacing aluminum with fiberglass in various components for sailboats, yachts and other boats like decks, hulls and linings.
• Strengthening bridge columns in areas susceptible to earthquakes, as well as making them more corrosion resistant and ductile.

Engineered composites are in countless products used by people every day, while companies continue to develop advanced materials that make these products better.  

Future of Custom Composite Components

Research continues with advanced materials for making parts, including with mechanisms that automate fiber placement and 3D printers for custom composite components. Such research seeks to optimize processes and lower costs for making parts from engineered composites. The future looks promising for engineered composites in parts manufacturing, with sustainable bio-based composites, integrated smart materials to monitor part wear and even materials with self-healing properties.

Custom Composite Components from Spaulding 

Spaulding Composites Inc. can help manufacturers develop custom composite components for their products, regardless of the industry.

Our engineering team has the capabilities to: 

• Develop materials that meet required characteristics
• Assist with designs to ensure manufacturability and performance
• Provide support throughout the manufacturing process
• Identify all potential ways in which a product could fail
• Test products for performance and wear
• Continue testing products throughout their lifecycle to improve designs

To learn more about how we can help you develop engineered composites for your application, contact the composite experts at Spaulding.