Summary: | Composites have been studied for more than 150 years, and interest in their properties has been growing. The Theory of Composites is a classic volume, providing the foundations for understanding a broad range of composite properties. These properties can be explored either through the model geometries or through microstructure-independent bounds, obtained through variational principles, analytic methods, and Hilbert space approaches. Most interesting is when the properties of the composite are unlike those of the constituent materials, and there has been an explosion of interest in such composites, now known as metamaterials. The Theory of Composites surveys these aspects, among others, and complements the new body of literature that has emerged since the book was written. It remains relevant today by providing historical background, a compendium of numerous results, and through elucidating many of the tools still used today in the analysis of composite properties.
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