Ceramic materials are indispensable to aerospace and defence technologies, where structural and functional components are required to withstand extreme thermal, mechanical, and chemically aggressive environments. Traditionally valued for their exceptional thermal stability, oxidation resistance, and corrosion resistance, ceramics have nonetheless been constrained by their inherent brittleness, which has limited their widespread adoption in load-bearing structural applications. This review surveys the principal tough ceramic systems currently employed in aerospace and defence, including SiC, Al2O3, ZrO2, Si3N4, SiC/SiC composites, and ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs) such as ZrB2 and HfB2.
