Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The continuing search for new types of high-strength materials, and for performance improvements in existing ceramics, has encouraged several nonconventional approaches to ceramics synthesis. Some of the advantages of polymeric routes have already been demonstrated and include new fabrication procedures leading to continuous fibers, coatings and infiltrated porous structures. At a more fundamental level, polymer pyrolysis can allow control over the microstructure of the final ceramic, with important consequences for both physical and chemical properties (1).