Presents the latest advances and innovations in armor ceramics

The Armor Ceramics Symposium presented during the annual International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC) has become one of the premier global conferences for the latest developments in the fabrication, characterization, and application of ceramic materials to meet the needs of the military, police, and other public defense, security, and protection organizations. It continues to foster discussion and collaboration among academic, government, and industry personnel from around the world.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have made armor ceramics a hot research topic. As a result, the Armor Ceramics Symposium VIII held in January 2012 was eagerly anticipated by ceramics researchers from around the world as an opportunity to share the latest findings and applications in the field.

The manuscripts contained in this issue of Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings were selected from among the more than seventy presentations at the Armor Ceramics Symposium VIII. They are divided into three sections:

• Modeling and dynamic behavior
• Transparent materials
• Opaque materials

This issue represents one of nine CESP issues published from the 36th ICACC meeting. ICACC is the world's most prominent international meeting dedicated to advanced structural, functional, and nanoscopic ceramics, composites, and other emerging ceramic materials and technologies. ICACC has been organized each year by The American Ceramic Society and The American Ceramic Society's Engineering Ceramics Division since 1977.

Jeffrey J. Swab is the editor of Advances in Ceramic Armor VIII, Volume 33, Issue 5, published by Wiley. Michael Halbig is the editor of Advances in Ceramic Armor VIII, Volume 33, Issue 5, published by Wiley.