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Engineering

How a Ceramic Matrix Composite Fan Blade Withstands Bird Strikes

Quick fact

A bird strike is a high-velocity impact that can shatter a conventional ceramic, but ceramic matrix composite fan blades are designed to survive such impacts by allowing the brittle ceramic matrix to crack while the stronger ceramic fibers bridge the cracks and hold the blade together.

Why this is interesting

You might think that a material that can survive the heat of a jet engine would be too brittle to survive a bird strike. But engineers have designed a ceramic material that can actually absorb the impact—how?