3 ms·

Isn't concrete an engineered composite material to begin with? It's ancient. AFAIK plywood is an 19th century invention.

• BariumBlue 6y ago
  Plywood was used for shields by the Romans, I'm fairly certain the Vikings, and wikipedia mentions the Greeks and Egyptians used it as well. From what I can tell from a quick google, it does seem to be a casualty of the Dark ages though.
  • PoachedSausage 6y ago
    Maybe not. The Dutch police appear to be using wicker riot shields in 2021. Good for the environment. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/25/nation/weekend-rioting-sweeps-across-netherlands-covid-19-restrictions-tighten/ https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/25/nation/weekend-riotin...
    • TT3351 6y ago
      I believe the implication was it was lost in the Dark Ages and re-discovered in 19thc. No reason to suggest plywood is not in use today
    • alexpotato 6y ago
      I remember reading in Gates of Fire [0] that the Spartans used heavy, round oak shields which suited there phalanx style of warfare. The Persians (and their allies) used wicker shields that chose light weight over protection [1]. More recently, there was also a video floating around recently of how protesters were building Viking shield walls to protect themselves [2] 0 - https://amzn.to/39n23Jx https://amzn.to/39n23Jx 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparabara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparabara 2 - https://twitter.com/joshuapotash/status/1291962889323020288?lang=en https://twitter.com/joshuapotash/status/1291962889323020288?...
• engineer_22 6y ago
  In engineering parlance composites are materials with high tensile strength bonded to materials with high compressive strength. Concrete is compressive strength materials (rock, sand) bonded with cement. OTOH - We could say reinforced concrete, (steel, fiberglass, etc reinforcement) is a composite.