The Composite Materials Handbook-17 (CMH-17) provides information and guidance necessary to design and fabricate end items from composite materials. Its primary purpose is the standardization of engineering data development methodologies related to testing, data reduction, and data reporting of property data for current and emerging composite materials. In support of this objective, the handbook includes composite materials properties that meet specific data requirements.

The Handbook therefore constitutes an overview of the field of composites technology and engineering, an area which is advancing and changing rapidly. As a result, the document is constantly changing as sections are added or modified to reflect advances in the state-of-the-art.