1. Thermo-ceramics. Refractory Material – able to withstand great tempratures >1100 o C Refractory Material – able to withstand great tempratures >1100 o C have a structure which gives them great hardness and stability at very high temperatures Silicon nitride - little brittle - turbine blades High end skateboard bearings Corrosion resistance bearings Metal Cutting and automotive parts Cermets Thermo-ceramics and cermets are made by sintering finely powdered oxides. Tipping cutting equipment

2. Piezo-electric actuators Piezo-electric crystals - actuators delivering high voltage spark as used in gas oven and BBQ lighters Piezo-electric crystals Piezo-electric crystals act as transducers by applying a voltage across the crystal. Piezo-electric crystals The crystal will change shape enough to drive small speakers, eg musical musical greetings cardgreetings card, beeper in a digital watch. greetings card

3. New materials as used in the computer and electronics industry. Development of silicon as a semi-conductor used in Integrated Circuits silicon chip and miniaturisation Optical fibres are used to transfer vast amounts of data efficiently by encoding and decoding light signals LCD displays have led to slimmer and smaller laptop and palmtop computers.

4. Smart composites. Piezo Electrics Shape Memory Alloys Electrorheological - magnetorheological Optical Fibres