An economic and technical assessment of advanced ceramic materials

Advanced ceramics represents a relatively new technology with potential for rapid technological advance and resulting market growth. The achievement of this technological advance would provide substantial leverage on productivity. Depending on how rapidly the technology develops in the U.S. vs the rest of the world and on how well U.S. manufacturers strategically position themselves, advances in advanced ceramics may also have important leveraging effects on U.S. competitiveness in world markets. U.S. dependence on foreign sources of supply for critical materials also will be reduced, although to a limited degree, by substitution of ceramics for these other materials. However, a number of difficult technological problems must be overcome in a timely fashion in order to achieve these benefits.