E.M. Lenoe

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.