The 8th International Symposium on fracture mechanics of ceramics was held in on the campus of the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA, on February 25-28, 2003. With the natural maturing of the fields of structural ceramics, this symposium focused on nano-scale materials, composites, thin films and coatings as well as glass. The symposium also addressed new issues on fundamentals of fracture mechanics and contact mechanics, and a session on reliability and standardization.

Second part of the proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium held in Karlsruhe, Germany, July 18-20, 1995.

These volumes, 9 and 10, of Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics constitute the proceedings of an international symposium on the fracture mechanics of ceramic materials held at the Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya, Japan on July 15, 16, 17, 1991. These proceedings constitute the fifth pair of volumes of a continuing series of conferences. Volumes 1 and 2 were from the 1973 symposium, volumes 3 and 4 from a 1977 symposium, and volumes 5 and 6 from a 1981 symposium all of which were held at The Pennsylvania State University. Volumes 7 and 8 are from the 1985 symposium which was held at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The theme ofthis conference, as for the previous four, focused on the mechanical behavior ofceramic materials in terms of the characteristics of cracks, particularly the roles which they assume in the fracture processes and mechanisms. The 82 contributed papers by over 150 authors and co-authors represent the current state of that field. They address many of the theoretical and practical problems ofinterest to those scientists and engineers concerned with brittle fracture.

The 8th International Symposium on fracture mechanics of ceramics was held in on the campus of the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA, on February 25-28, 2003. With the natural maturing of the fields of structural ceramics, this symposium focused on nano-scale materials, composites, thin films and coatings as well as glass. The symposium also addressed new issues on fundamentals of fracture mechanics and contact mechanics, and a session on reliability and standardization.

These volumes, 9 and 10, of Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics constitute the proceedings of an international symposium on the fracture mechanics of ceramic materials held at the Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya, Japan on July 15, 16, 17, 1991. These proceedings constitute the fifth pair of volumes of a continuing series of conferences. Volumes 1 and 2 were from the 1973 symposium, volumes 3 and 4 from a 1977 symposium, and volumes 5 and 6 from a 1981 symposium all of which were held at The Pennsylvania State University. Volumes 7 and 8 are from the 1985 symposium which was held at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The theme ofthis conference, as for the previous four, focused on the mechanical behavior ofceramic materials in terms of the characteristics ofcracks, particularly the roles which they assume in the fracture processes and mechanisms. The 82 contributed papers by over 150 authors and co-authors represent the current state of that field. They address many of the theoretical and practical problems ofinterest to those scientists and engineers concerned with brittle fracture.