Dear Colleagues,

Composite materials are a continuous and omnipresent feature of the present and are expected to expand for the future. They show massive advantages in weight and strength/stiffness compared to other, more conventional materials. Nevertheless, other aspects such as cost, sustainability, maintainability, and eco-impact are still areas in which improvements are sought. Furthermore, large (1 to 10 meters) and very large (beyond 10 meters) scale structures, which are erected typically using more traditional materials (except perhaps for aeronautics/aerospace and maritime applications), could benefit from the usual advantages of composites. Design methods derived from established procedures for simpler materials have now considerably evolved, and new, improved manufacturing processes are continuously seeing the light of day.

The larger the structure, the more critical some aspects become, such as environmental sustainability, life-cycle cost, life-cycle engineering and life-cycle assessment, incorporation of natural materials, weight reduction as a significant driver of energy-saving, hybrid manufacturing processes, etc.

This Special Issue aims to look at composites beyond today, both in terms of applications and manufacturing processes. What recent advances will enable a fresh look at the design, manufacturing, and maintenance of large and geometrically complex composite structures? What manufacturing processes can be enhanced to cater for these new structures? What new components can be incorporated into composites to enhance specific behavioral (structural, cost, maintenance, eco-impact, etc.) aspects? How can we redefine how composites are designed, used, disposed of, or potentially reused in large structures? Can we manufacture for design instead of designing for manufacture? The analysis of these extensive and ill-defined problems can no longer focus on specific issues: It has to tackle a web of influences ranging from design to production, from supply chain to end-of-life, from consumer preference to market trends public awareness to public policy, etc.

Manuscripts submitted to this Special Issue should tackle the specific and/or the broad, the technical and/or the social, the environmental and/or the financial sustainability. Especially welcome are manuscripts which bridge these fields to produce a web of knowledge that may inform the scientific and the industrial community on ways to move forward and exploit the advantages of composite materials while mitigating their drawbacks for large structures.

Dr. Arlindo Silva
Carlos Bañon
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Composites Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• large-scale manufacturing
• composite structures
• design for manufacturability
• sustainable technologies and processes
• design methodologies
• renewable materials