Many applications for the use of carbon fiber are limited by their high cost. What are the technical and production factors that contribute to the cost, and what are the prospects for these costs to be lowered?

Many observers believe that high fuel-economy cars will require the use of carbon-fiber composites, but that can' t happen until such composites are used in a succession of goods in increasing amounts and at decreasing cost. What markets, between sports equipment and cars, could absorb something like one-tenth the amount of carbon-fiber composites as that of cars (300 million lbs) at twice the cost ($4/lb)?

What are the critical technical issues in tendon attachment to bone? (Though a biomaterial problem, it is part of the general joining problems of composites.)

What are the critical technical issues in knee replacements?

What are the critical technical issues in the repair of a semi-structural composite part, damaged by side-impact, for example, that is visible to the customer and needs to be returned to its as-new condition? An example would be the quarter-panel or C-pillar of a car.

What are the critical technical issues in the repair of a structural composite part consisting of continuous fibers, damaged by side-impact, for example? Although the repair should be as close to as-new as possible in appearance, this is of secondary importance. An example could be a golf club shaft (your own).

What are the critical technical issues in combining continuous-fiber preforms with SMC molding? Many parts for cars and trucks are made from SMC, but they are semi-structural at best. To be able to adapt the technique to components having more structural qualities, continuous-fiber preforms need to be used. How should that be done?

What are the current applications of polymer matrix based nanocomposites?

What are the advantages of nano fillers?

What are the challenges in joining composites?

What are the standard composite repair methods, what's their challenges and attributes