If Icarus had access to these ceramic materials, he certainly would’ve been (almost) able to fly into the sun! In a stride towards addressing the pressing challenges of clean energy, space exploration, and advanced manufacturing, Purdue University researchers from the Materials and Mechanical Engineering departments in West Lafayette and Indianapolis report the state of current research of Ultra High-Temperature Ceramics (UHTCs) in a review article published in Nature Reviews Materials.

 

Led by Babak Anasori, the Reilly Rising Star Associate Professor of Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, and his team in collaboration with leaders in the field of UHTCs Elizabeth Opila of the University of Virginia and Greg Hilmas of Missouri University of Science & Technology, this work spotlights UHTCs as the materials of the future for the human interaction and exploration in most extreme conditions in our universe.