This site presents two books about composite materials. The first, “The String and Glue of our World”, is a book about the science, engineering, history, and art of making things out of composites told in a manner that is hopefully approachable, engaging, and entertaining, even for the casual reader. It is not intended to replace or even be a textbook on the subject nor for the serious practitioner who has lots of experience with composites and needs a reference book. You don’t have to be a Ph.D. engineer or scientist to understand the book and appreciate the significance and beauty of composite materials. All you need really is a basic high school education in math and science (chemistry would help) and enough curiosity to want to know how these wonderful materials are made and most importantly why.

My second book, "Sustainable Composite Materials", which will be out in the Spring of 2026, is intended to be a roadmap for the industry and other practitioners, as well as the interested general public, in how to reduce and potentially even eliminate the rather large carbon footprint that composite materials represents. The biggest problem is that once you stick the strings together with your glue, when you are done using it, the strings and glues don't come apart easily. This book demonstrates how to do that and what to do with what you get back. It also provides a fairly up to date status of where this industry stands today in efforts to become sustainable.

String and Glue is available from this website, McFarland Books and Amazon, as well as some physical bookstores, and many online booksellers. Sustainable Composite Materials is available for pre-order from McFarland, Amazon, and other online booksellers, and of course from this site as well.

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Natural Carbon Fiber Precursors – How About Thin Air?

#composites, #sustainability, #energyefficiency, #renewableenergy, #fibers, #resins Yes, in fact, a company in Houston called Mars Materials, Inc. which is a public benefit corporation incorporated in Texas, teamed up with the Textile Innovation Engine of North Carolina and NC State University to take CO 2 captured from the atmosphere and ammonia/bio-based feedstocks and turn it into acrylonitrile. The Textile Innovation Center at NC State tested the Mars material and found

2 days ago6 min read

Read Any Good Books Lately?

#composites, #textiles, #naturalfibers, #bioresins, #historyofcomposites I read a really good book this last week about the history of textiles. The title of the book is “The Fabric of Civilization, How Textiles Made the World” by Virginia Postrel. This book is a number one bestseller that my wife bought for all of us in the family to read. It was recommended by John and Hank Green, the Vlog Brothers who also are the creators of the Crash Course series of educational YouTu

Jan 207 min read

A Bit of Sustainability News and Some Other Stuff

#composites, #sustainability, #rotorsails, #environmentalproductdeclaration, #recycling There has been a bit going on since my last post in 2025, so I thought this week I would catch everyone up with the sustainability initiatives across not only the composites industry itself, but in industries and sectors of the economy that are making heavy use and initial use of composites. Anemoi Rotor Sails on Union Maritime Chemical Tankers – CW 12/26/2025 First I want to talk a bit ab

Jan 148 min read

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Natural Carbon Fiber Precursors – How About Thin Air?

#composites, #sustainability, #energyefficiency, #renewableenergy, #fibers, #resins Yes, in fact, a company in Houston called Mars Materials, Inc. which is a public benefit corporation incorporated in Texas, teamed up with the Textile Innovation Engine of North Carolina and NC State University to take CO 2 captured from the atmosphere and ammonia/bio-based feedstocks and turn it into acrylonitrile. The Textile Innovation Center at NC State tested the Mars material and found

2 days ago6 min read

Read Any Good Books Lately?

#composites, #textiles, #naturalfibers, #bioresins, #historyofcomposites I read a really good book this last week about the history of textiles. The title of the book is “The Fabric of Civilization, How Textiles Made the World” by Virginia Postrel. This book is a number one bestseller that my wife bought for all of us in the family to read. It was recommended by John and Hank Green, the Vlog Brothers who also are the creators of the Crash Course series of educational YouTu

Jan 207 min read

A Bit of Sustainability News and Some Other Stuff

#composites, #sustainability, #rotorsails, #environmentalproductdeclaration, #recycling There has been a bit going on since my last post in 2025, so I thought this week I would catch everyone up with the sustainability initiatives across not only the composites industry itself, but in industries and sectors of the economy that are making heavy use and initial use of composites. Anemoi Rotor Sails on Union Maritime Chemical Tankers – CW 12/26/2025 First I want to talk a bit ab

Jan 148 min read

Composites in Orthopedics Part 1 – the Hip

#composites, #orthopedics, #medicaldevices, #hipreplacement, #fibers, #resins Hello everyone, I’m back for my first post in 2026. I hope everyone had a great holiday and is ready to start this year strong – I know I am. I’m gong to diverge a bit from the sustainability rant that I have been on for the last several months and talk a bit about composites in orthopedics and how composite materials are replacing metals – especially titanium – in orthopedics, both the implanted

Jan 78 min read

ABOUT ME

Ned Patton, Ph.D., P.E. lives and works in San Diego California. He has more than 40 years of experience in research and technology development, and has been involved with and has been a proponent of composites for over 35 of those years. Currently working at Oceaneering International as a senior technical professional, he is actively developing composite material parts and structures for use undersea.