Fiber-reinforced ceramic composites are revolutionizing energy and propulsion technologies. SiC/SiC composites are flying in commercial aircraft engines and aggressive plans are being hatched by engine OEMs in the US and abroad to use these composites in high pay-off components such as turbine vanes and blades. The payoffs in engine efficiency – resulting from lower density and higher temperature capabilities of SiC/SiC relative to superalloys – will be enormous. Larger-scale engine nozzle components will soon be made out of all-oxide ceramic composites. And C-fiber SiC-matrix composites for use in ultrahigh temperature applications in hypersonic flight vehicles are actively being developed.

Research in our group addresses the critical materials challenges of high-temperature fiber-reinforced ceramic composites. Research thrusts embrace all aspects of materials technology, including design, synthesis, processing, characterization and modeling of composites, their constituents and protective coatings. The work has been supported through alliances with OEMs and by numerous government agencies, including ONR, AFRL, AFOSR and NASA.