ABSTRACT
One of the major goals of research in structural ceramics is the production of a range of high-temperature, damage-tolerant, ceramic components [1, 2]. To this end the United States and Japanese governments in particular have funded a number of recent research programmes on continuous fibrereinforced ceramics, with the ultimate aim of producing commercially viable material [3]. In practice, these programmes have produced materials that have demonstrated the concept of fibre-reinforced ceramics as components in gas turbines, such as combustor liners, but without yet demonstrating commercial viability [4-8].
