1. Introduction

The technologically advancing society is continuously challenging the limits of conventional materials and placing newer demands on material performance. Extreme and sometimes conflicting requirements are forcing us to engineer materials that are not possible by conventional alloying methods. Composite materials form a material system composed of a mixture or combination and are insoluble in each other. Composite material comes under one class of engineered material developed specifically to meet such a challenge. Glass fibre reinforced resin matrix composites were first introduced in the early 1940s. Since then, the use of composites is growing steadily in various industries such as aircraft, marine, automobile, sporting goods, etc.