The quest for increased performance in the aeronautical and aerospace industries has provided the driving force and motivation for the research, investigation, and development of advanced ceramics. Special emphasis is therefore attributed to the ability of fine ceramics to fulfill an attractive, extreme, and distinguishing combination of application requirements. This is impelled by ensuring a suitable arrangement of thermomechanical, thermoelectric, and electromechanical properties. As a result, the reliability, durability, and useful lifetime extension of a critical structure or system are expected. In this context, engineered ceramic appliances consist of three main purposes in aeronautical and aerospace fields: thermal protection systems (TPS), thermal protection barriers (TBC), and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators. Consequently, this research provides an extensive discussion and review of the referred applications, i.e., TPS, TBC, and DBD, and discusses the concept of multifunctional advanced ceramics for future engineering needs and perspectives.

For over a decade, additive manufacturing (AM) has experienced several hype cycles from the academic and industry worlds. Although not every forecast turned into reality, it is consensual that AM is key to shifting from machine‐dominated to digital productions. AM promotes decreased supply chain complexity by commissioning on‐site and on‐demand customized components, faster response to customer demand, and enhanced sustainability. Currently, metal‐ and polymer‐based AM is widely accepted, considering the variety of international standards issued (ASTM and ISO), their applications, and strategic foresight opportunities. Advanced ceramic AM, conversely, is only now getting widespread attention from scientific institutes, start‐ups, and industries. Ceramic materials’ inherent brittle nature, defect‐sensitive properties, and extensive post‐processing are major blockers in exploiting ceramic best traits. Fortunately, ceramic AM has shown leverage in solving ceramic formability bottlenecks. In this review, the up‐to‐date traditional manufacturing interrelationship with AM is discussed in scope of ceramic aerospace and defense applications. Applications of advanced ceramics in such areas encompass thermal protection systems, thermal barrier coatings, armor and space shielding, sensors and actuators. The synergy between AM and Industry 4.0 technological pillars (digital twins, cloud computing, the IoT, augmented reality, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning) is also presented and discussed.

Aerospace propulsion systems are among the driving forces for the development of advanced ceramics with increased performance efficiency in severe operation conditions. The conducted research focused on the mechanical (Young’s and shear moduli, flexural strength, hardness, and fracture toughness), thermal (thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion), and electric (dielectric properties) characterization of MgO-Al₂O₃, MgO-CaZrO₃, and stable YSZ ceramic composites. The experimental results, considering structural and functional traits, underscore the importance of a holistic understanding of the multifunctionality of advanced ceramics to fulfill propulsion system requirements, the limits of which have not yet been fully explored.

Ice accretion is a significant drawback in an aircraft’s and wind turbine’s aerodynamic performance in cold climate weather. Plasma actuators are an attractive technology for ice removal; however, dielectric barriers are typically restricted to borosilicate glass and various polymers, such as Teflon^® and Kapton^®. Nevertheless, new materials capable of withstanding prolonged exposure to charged particles are needed. In this work, Y₂O₃-ZrO₂, MgO-CaZrO₃, and MgO-Al₂O₃ ceramic samples were manufactured and their thermal properties as DBD plasma actuators were measured. As foreseen, the results showed that the higher the power consumed, the higher the temperature surface of the plasma actuators. The Y₂O₃-ZrO₂ dielectric showed the highest power consumption and ceiling temperatures (20.7 W and 155 °C at 10 kVpp, respectively), followed by MgO-CaZrO₃ (9.6 W and 62 °C at 10 kVpp, respectively) and by MgO-Al₂O₃ (5.6 W and 47 °C at 10 kVpp, respectively). It was concluded that MgO-Al₂O₃ presented stable magnitudes across the entire dielectric area, whilst Y₂O₃-ZrO₂ showed a more concentrated temperature field. Therefore, considering that about 65 to 95% of the total power supplied to the DBD plasma actuator is dissipated as heat, it becomes natural to propose ceramic-based DBD plasma actuators as de-/anti-icing means for aero-dynamic structures.

Plasma actuators have demonstrated great potential for active flow control applications, including boundary layer control, flow separation delay, turbulence control, and aircraft noise reduction. In particular, the material used as a dielectric barrier is crucial for the proper operation of the device. Currently, the variety of dielectrics reported in the literature is still quite restricted to polymers including Kapton, Teflon, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), Cirlex, polyisobutylene (PIB) rubber, or polystyrene. Nevertheless, several studies have highlighted the fragilities of polymeric dielectric layers when actuators operate at significantly high-voltage and -frequency levels or for long periods. In the current study, we propose the use of alumina-based ceramic composites as alternative materials for plasma actuator dielectric layers. The alumina composite samples were fabricated and characterized in terms of microstructure, electrical parameters, and plasma-induced flow velocity and compared with a conventional Kapton-based actuator. It was concluded that alumina-based dielectrics are suitable materials for plasma actuator applications, being able to generate plasma-induced flow velocities of approximately 4.5 m/s. In addition, it was verified that alumina-based ceramic actuators can provide similar fluid mechanical efficiencies to Kapton actuators. Furthermore, the ceramic dielectrics present additional characteristics, such as high-temperature resistance, which are not encompassed by conventional Kapton actuators, which makes them suitable for high-temperature applications such as turbine blade film cooling enhancement and plasma-assisted combustion. The high porosity of the ceramic results in lower plasma-induced flow velocity and lower fluid mechanical efficiency, but by minimizing the porosity, the fluid mechanical efficiency is increased.