Progress In Advanced Ceramics Research Enabled By Novel Processing And Materials Technologies

During the last 30 years, the remarkable progress has been made in the advanced ceramics research, which has been always inspired by dreams of innovations. This chapter focuses on three different research topics on advanced ceramics, with which the author has been substantially involved. The first topic is on novel synthesis approaches for ceramics, particularly hot isostatic pressing and self-propagating high temperature synthesis. The second is on development of functionally graded materials, with a dream of developing high-temperature materials used for a future space plane. The third is freeform fabrication technique for making three-dimensional ceramic photonic crystals, fractals, and superalloy components, derived from a goal of developing the next-generation ceramic manufacturing process.