Overview of Testing and Certification Available to Purchase

Composites are complex engineered materials that often behave differently than common isotropic materials. Before testing a composite material, or before ordering or supervising such testing, the responsible party should review certain considerations. This article provides an overview of such considerations, namely, the differences between the testing of composites and testing of isotropic materials, role of certification agencies and importance of their involvement, building-block approach to composites testing, determining the purpose of testing, normalizing results, and statistical data reduction.