A Workshop will be held at NSF January 13-14, 2004 on ultra-high temperature materials (UHTMs); UHTMs are defined as materials that have use temperatures in excess of 1800C. This includes carbides and borides of transition metals such as ZrB2, HfC, and TaC. The strong covalent bonding in these materials provides unusual combinations of strength, stability in oxidizing atmospheres, and resistance to thermal shock, but this also makes them difficult to process. The Workshop forum will provide for interactive in-depth exchange of information on unmet needs of current users of UHTMs, experimental approaches and new materials for improved UHTMs, and issues related to education and training of scientists and engineers for careers that involve UHTMs. Participants will be from a broad cross section including government, industry, and university research laboratories from the U.S. and abroad. The major workshop outcomes are to be documented in a report disseminated through a web page devoted to ultra-high temperature ceramics at the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR). When finalized, the report will be available at technical meetings, submitted for publication in synopsis form to technical publications such as the Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society and the Materials Research Society Bulletin, and promoted through a letter sent to colleagues in the UHTM community. %%% Discussions at the proposed workshop will include a critical evaluation of experimental approaches that have potential to lead to greater fundamental understanding, and to identify new materials with improved performance. The combined input from industry, government, and universities will allow a broad base of the UHTM research community to design and promote programs that satisfy unmet needs and to tailor education programs for training of future scientists and engineers in this field. ***
