The first comprehensive book to focus on ultra-high temperature ceramic materials in more than 20 years Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics are a family of compounds that display an unusual combination of properties, including extremely high melting temperatures (>3000°C), high hardness, and good chemical stability and strength at high temperatures. Typical UHTC materials are the carbides, nitrides, and borides of transition metals, but the Group IV compounds (Ti, Zr, Hf) plus TaC are generally considered to be the main focus of research due to the superior melting temperatures and stable high-melting temperature oxide that forms in situ. Rather than focusing on the latest scientific results, Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics: Materials for Extreme Environment Applications broadly and critically combines the historical aspects and the state-of-the-art on the processing, densification, properties, and performance of boride and carbide ceramics. In reviewing the historic studies and recent progress in the field, Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics: Materials for Extreme Environment Applications provides: Original reviews of research conducted in the 1960s and 70s Content on electronic structure, synthesis, powder processing, densification, property measurement, and characterization of boride and carbide ceramics. Emphasis on materials for hypersonic aerospace applications such as wing leading edges and propulsion components for vehicles traveling faster than Mach 5 Information on materials used in the extreme environments associated with high speed cutting tools and nuclear power generation Contributions are based on presentations by leading research groups at the conference "Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics: Materials for Extreme Environment Applications II" held May 13-19, 2012 in Hernstein, Austria. Bringing together disparate researchers from academia, government, and industry in a singular forum, the meeting cultivated didactic discussions and efforts between bench researchers, designers and engineers in assaying results in a broader context and moving the technology forward toward near- and long-term use. This book is useful for furnace manufacturers, aerospace manufacturers that may be pursuing hypersonic technology, researchers studying any aspect of boride and carbide ceramics, and practitioners of high-temperature structural ceramics.

High-temperature ceramic fibers are the key components of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). Ceramic fiber properties (strength, temperature and creep resistance, for example)-along with the debonding characteristics of their coatings-determine the properties of CMCs. This report outlines the state of the art in high-temperature ceramic fibers and coatings, assesses fibers and coatings in terms of future needs, and recommends promising avenues of research. CMCs are also discussed in this report to provide a context for discussing high-temperature ceramic fibers and coatings.

The Sixth Army Materials Technology Conference, IICeramics for High Performance Applications-II I-Reliabilityll , was co-sponsored by the Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center and the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Transportation Programs . The program highlighted all issues relevant to the reliability of ceramics in advanced systems. The conference emphasized programmatic reviews of the major efforts on ceramic gas turbine technology, on an international basis. The conference showed how ceramic design, materials development, materials processing, NDE, and component systems testing are being integrated and iterated in specific engine development programs . Further , the conference promoted inter change among the various technical disciplines working in the advanced turbine and heat engine areas. This volume will join its earlier companions, Ceramics for High Performance A lications (1974), and Ceramics for High Performance Applications-II 1 7 ,in chronicling the rapid progress being made in the applicaton of ceramics to the very demanding service environ ment of gas turbine and piston engines. At the last meeting of this series at Newport, R t, in March 1977, successful high temperature tests of ceramic components in test rigs were described.

Several ceramic parts have already proven their suitability for serial application in automobile engines in very impressive ways, especially in Japan, the USA and in Germany. However, there is still a lack of economical quality assurance concepts. Recently, a new generation of ceramic components, for the use in energy, transportation and environment systems, has been developed. The efforts are more and more system oriented in this field. The only possibility to manage this complex issue in the future will be interdisciplinary cooperation. Chemists, physicists, material scientists, process engineers, mechanical engineers and engine manufacturers will have to cooperate in a more intensive way than ever before. The R&D activities are still concentrating on gas turbines and reciprocating engines, but also on brakes, bearings, fuel cells, batteries, filters, membranes, sensors and actuators as well as on shaping and cutting tools for low expense machining of ceramic components. This book summarizes the scientific papers of the 7th International Symposium "Ceramic Materials and Components for Engines". Some of the most fascinating new applications of ceramic meterials in energy, transportation and environment systems are presented. The proceedings shall lead to new ideas for interdisciplinary activities in the future.

"Corrosion of High-Performance Ceramics" is a comprehensive survey of the state of the art of this new field of research. It presents the first generalized description of the corrosion of engineering ceramics and its effect on their mechanical properties (based on Si3N4, SiC, AlN, B4C, BN, Al2O3, ZrO2). Researchers, engineers and graduate students are provided with a guide to the performance of non-oxide and oxide ceramicsin corrosive environments. Keywords: high-temperature oxidation; hot corrosion; corrosion in acids, alkalis and molten salts; effects of corrosion on the physico-mechanical properties of ceramics; stress corrosion; corrosion protection; development of oxidation-resistant ceramics; role of purity, donations and microstructure.

Based on the author's lectures to graduate students of geosciences, physics, chemistry and materials science, this didactic handbook covers basic aspects of ceramics such as composition and structure as well as such advanced topics as achieving specific functionalities by choosing the right materials. The focus lies on the thermal transformation processes of natural raw materials to arrive at traditional structural ceramics and on the general physical principles of advanced functional ceramics. The book thus provides practice-oriented information to readers in research, development and engineering on how to understand, make and improve ceramics and derived products, while also serving as a rapid reference for the practitioner. The choice of topics and style of presentation make it equally useful for chemists, materials scientists, engineers and mineralogists.

The nitrides and carbides of boron and silicon are proving to be an excellent choice when selecting materials for the design of devices that are to be employed under particularly demanding environmental and thermal con- tions. The high degree of cross-linking, due to the preferred coordination numbers of the predominantly covalently bonded constituents equalling or exceeding three, lends these non-oxidic ceramics a high kinetic stability, and is regarded as the microscopic origin of their impressive thermal and mechanical durability. Thus it does not come as a surprise that the chemistry, the physical properties and the engineering of the corresponding binary, ternary, and even quaternary compounds have been the subject of intensive and sustained efforts in research and development. In the five reviews presented in the volumes 101 and 102 of "Structure and Bonding" an attempt has been made to cover both the essential and the most recent advances achieved in this particular field of materials research. The scope of the individual contributions is such as to address both graduate students, specializing in ceramic materials, and all scientists in academia or industry dealing with materials research and development. Each review provides, in its introductory part, the chemical, physical and, to some extent, historical background of the respective material, and then focuses on the most relevant and the most recent achievements.

Advanced Ceramic Technologies & Products describes the development, materials, and manufacturing processes for various ceramic products. The text focuses on the products themselves, and tries to clarify how ceramics have contributed to our lives.

Interest in ceramics as a high speed cutting tool material is based primarily on favorable material properties. As a class of materials, ceramics possess high melting points, excellent hardness and good wear resistance. Unlike most metals, hardness levels in ceramics generally remain high at elevated temperatures which means that cutting tip integrity is relatively unaffected at high cutting speeds. Ceramics are also chemically inert against most workmetals.