Technical progress report during Phase 1 of the continuous fiber ceramic composites program

United States industry has a critical need for materials that are lightweight, strong, tough, corrosion resistant and capable of performing at high temperatures; such materials will enable substantial increase in energy efficiency and reduction in emissions of pollutants. Continuous fiber ceramic composites (CFCCs) are an emerging class of materials which have the potential for the desired combination of properties to meet the industrial needs. A $10 billion annual market has been estimated for CFCC products by the year 2010, which equates to over 100,000 industrial sector jobs. The CFCC program began in the spring of 1992 as a three-phase 10-year effort to assess potential applications of CFCC materials, develop the necessary supporting technologies to design, analyze and test CFCC materials, conduct materials and process development guided by the applications assessment input, fabricate test samples and representative components to evaluate CFCC material capabilities under application conditions, and analyze scaleability and manufacturability plus demonstrate pilot-scale production engineering. DOE awarded 10 Phase I cooperative agreements to industry-lead teams plus identified generic supporting technology projects. This document highlights the broad progress and accomplishments on these contracts and support technology projects during Phase I