Although examples of metal-ceramic composites in the electronics industry date to the 1950s, true cermets consisting of ceramic (cer) reinforcements interspersed in a metal (met) matrix comprise a relatively new class of composite material. The primary support for cermets has come from the aerospace industry for airframe and spacecraft structures. More recently, the automotive, electronic and recreation industries have started to employ these composites. The driving force behind the development of most of the existing composites has been their ability to provide selected types of material behavior. Many combinations of matrices and reinforcing ceramics have been investigated since the late 1950s.

The ceramic reinforcements of the 1990’s can be divided into four categories: continuous fibers (boron, graphite, alumina, silicon carbide), discontinuous fibers (alumina, alumina-silica), whiskers (silicon carbide), and particulates (silicon carbide, boron carbide). Numerous metals have been used as matrices; the most important have been aluminum, titanium, magnesium...