Engineers at James Cook University (JCU) in Australia have developed a ceramic material that not only withstands extreme temperatures but can also flex — a property that has rarely been achieved in aerospace applications. In collaboration with U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the material will now undergo rigorous testing to evaluate its performance under hypersonic conditions.
Ceramics are widely used in high-temperature environments, such as engine components or thermal protection systems, due to their heat resistance. However, their brittle nature makes them prone to cracking under mechanical stress. The research team led by Dr. Elsa Antunes has developed an alternative: a 3D-printed, flexible ceramic with a flexural strength of around 1.7 GPa that withstands over 10,000 load cycles without failure. For comparison, conventional ceramics typically fail under just a fraction of that load.
“These are the ceramics that can take you above Mach 5, which is getting into hypersonic territory,” Dr Elsa Antunes said. “We are able to combine technologies by simultaneously producing complex shapes with ceramics that are bendable and have an extended lifetime and be able to withstand extremely high temperatures that are required for aerospace.
“This opens up a whole new field of applications in aerospace, creating new opportunities in the industry.
Even if we applied 80 per cent of that maximum load, what we found is that after 10,000 cycles, the part did not break,” Dr Antunes said. “A normal ceramic material available on the market can take only 20 per cent of that load before it will break.”
Thanks to additive manufacturing, the ceramic can be printed in complex geometries with variable wall thickness. This structural flexibility allows precise control over thermal behavior — critical for components exposed to high mechanical and thermal loads. Moreover, production takes just seven days, compared to significantly longer fabrication times for traditional ceramic matrix composites.
“On top of this, we are able to produce ceramics with complex structures and shapes that are otherwise not possible with traditional ceramic matrix manufacturing,” she said.
“With additive manufacturing, you can make parts that have different thicknesses in different areas. You can create porous and intricate structures that are able to improve thermal management depending on the application.
When we are talking about aerospace, for example the space shuttle, we are talking about something that is exposed to very high temperatures like 2000 or 3000 degrees.”
As part of the project, JCU will manufacture ceramic components for thermal management in aircraft. Lockheed Martin, known for its advanced aerospace systems, will subject the parts to real-world testing conditions. The collaboration is supported by the Queensland Defence Science Alliance through its Collaborative Research Grants program.
Dr. Antunes sees the partnership not only as a technological milestone but also as an opportunity to position North Queensland as a hub for advanced manufacturing. “Advanced manufacturing is a priority for the government, and our students are very motivated to work on projects like this,” she concluded.
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