New ceramic is super-tough.

When Michigan Technological University researcher William Predebon and doctoral student Jim Staehler first tried to crush the new ceramic material they had developed, they figured that something had gone wrong. Subjected to stress that should have smashed it into so much shattered crockery, it remained completely intact. The press they were using simply wasn't powerful enough to crack the quarter-inch-thick disc of high-strength alumina--a refined cousin of the same material used to make pottery and coffee cups--so they tried a larger press. Finally, after applying about 50% more stress than alumina ever had withstood, the disc fractured.

Not only did the disc resist more pressure than any alumina tested in the past, it withstood sudden impacts better. Moreover, the tensile strength is 50% greater, and it is 20% tougher than any previous alumina by engineering standards, meaning the material is less likely to crack.

Predebon began researching the creation of a more-perfect ceramic when he received a grant from the Honeywell Corp. to design ceramics that could be utilized for armor. Despite some obvious shortcomings when used for this purpose, ceramics have an important advantage--they weigh about half as much as steel. A ceramic-plated vehicle would be far cheaper to run and would have a greater range than conventionally armored tanks and personnel carriers.

Predebon reasoned that, the...