Thermal protection systems (TPS) are a group of materials that are indispensable for protecting spacecraft from the aerodynamic heating occurring during entry into an atmosphere. Among candidate materials for TPS, ceramic insulation materials are usually considered for reusable TPS. In this study, ceramic insulation materials, such as alumina enhanced thermal barrier (AETB), are fabricated via typical ceramic processing from ceramic fiber and additives. Mixtures of silica and alumina fibers are used as raw materials, with the addition of B4C to bind fibers together. Reaction-cured glass is also added on top of AETB to induce water-proof functionality or high emissivity. Some issues, such as the elimination of clumps in the AETB, and processing difficulties in the production of reusable surface insulation are reported as well.

As in other areas of materials technology, the tendency towards light weight constructions becomes more and more important also for powder metallurgy. The development is mainly driven by the automotive industry looking for mass reduction of vehicles as a major factor for fuel economy. Powder metallurgy has to offer a number of interesting areas including the development of sintered materials of light metals. PM aluminium alloys with improved properties are on the way to replace ferrous pars. For high temperature applications in the engine, titanium aluminide based materials offer a great potential, e.g. for exhaust valves. The PM route using elemental powders and reactions sintering is considered to be a cost effective way for net shape parts production. Furthermore it is expected that lower costs for titanium raw materials coming from metallurgical activities will offer new chances for sintered parts with titanium alloys. The field of cellular metals expands with the hollow sphere technique, that can provide materials of many metals and alloys with a great flexibility in structure modifications. These structures are expected to be used in improving the safety (crash absoption) and noise reduction in cars in the near future and offer great potential for many other applications.