Tailor-made ceramic-based components—Advantages by reactive processing and advanced shaping techniques

Affordable manufacturing of components with complex shapes is still the most essential shortcoming with respect to successful commercial use of advanced ceramics. This holds particularly for components with high demands of geometric precision and mechanical reliability at the same time. Two routes are considered here which offer a high potential for fast and cost-effective manufacturing of reliable components: (I) reactive-based processing exhibiting often low shrinkage and/or advanced shapability (and sometimes savings in raw material and processing costs) and (II) recently developed advanced shaping techniques suitable for CAD/CAM without labor intense tooling optimization. Recent developments in both areas are briefly highlighted.