ASTM Committee C28 on Advanced Ceramics was formed in 1986. C28 meets twice a year, usually in May and November, with about 20 members attending two to three days of technical meetings. The Committee, with a membership of approximately 100, currently has jurisdiction of over 43 standards, published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Volume 15.01. Information on C28's subcommittee structure and portfolio of approved standards and Work Items under construction are available from the List of Subcommittees, Standards and Work Items below. These standards have played and continue to play a preeminent role in such advanced engineering applications as: thermal systems including heat engines and heat exchangers; armor; fuel cells; sensors/actuators; electronics; coatings; catalyst substrates, etc. Standards address such areas as mechanical properties and performance (e.g., fracture toughness, flexural strength, tensile strength, compressive strength, thermal shock, etc.); reliability (e.g., Weibull statistics, fractography, etc.); physical properties and performance (e.g., elastic constants, thermal properties, powder characteristics, etc); ceramic composites (e.g., in-plane tensile, compressive and shear strengths, interlaminar tensile and shear strengths, creep, etc.); nomenclature (e.g., terminology, classification, etc.).

NANOMECHANICS WORKSHOP - On Sunday, January 27, 2008, a 4-hour workshop was held on Strength and Fracture Standards at Micro and Nano Scales. This workshop was organized by the C28 Advanced Ceramics Committee of ASTM International and the American Ceramic Society to meet the explosion of interest in MEMS and nano scaled structural devices and components. That interest has generated a demand for standardized procedures and methods to evaluate their mechanical properties, particularly strength and fracture resistance. To learn more about this workshop, please click on the Presentations link below in the Additional Information box.