This year's Paris Air Show provided an opportunity to see some of the notable advances made in materials technology and to examine progress made in applications to a variety of components. Du Pont and another US company, Lanxide Corporation, formed a joint venture a while ago to design, develop and manufacture ceramic matrix and metal matrix composites for use in aerospace and other areas. One example concerns ceramic composite parts for turbine engine combustors which allow the side wall temperatures to be increased from 1,000°C to 1,300°C, thereby increasing fuel efficiency.