In our story last week about the high-tech material being used in developing the GE-Rolls Royce F136 Joint Strike Fighter engine, we described the advanced ceramic matrix composite materials as “durable.” But it doesn’t really do it justice until you see what happens when the team at GE’s Global Research Center in New York tries to shoot a bullet through it.

Go ahead, make my day: The video above shows a ballistic test of GE’s advanced ceramic matrix composite material.

So long: Unlike GE’s composite material, which withstood the ballistic test, relatively high strength ceramics, such as silicon carbide or silicon nitride, fail catastrophically. The video above shows the result of firing a steel ball projectile into a silicon carbide plate at more than 150 mph.

As Greg Corman and Dan Dunn, who both work at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, NY, explain, ceramic materials can withstand very high temperatures and are light, which makes them highly desirable for use in gas turbine engines and jet engines because of their efficiency. “Unfortunately ceramics are also well known for their tendency to fail in a brittle, catastrophic fashion (think window glass or china dinnerware),” they write. “However, GE scientists at GE Global Research, GE Aviation and GE Energy have been working to develop ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials that combine the high temperature resistance of ceramics with the mechanical toughness normally associated with metals. … We believe GE’s CMCs are going to redefine what is possible in the world of aviation and energy.”

* Read their full blog entry at grcblog.com
* Read “Taking Top Gun technology to market”