gases can be fabricated in the same shape as their metal equivalents. The lifetime for these oxide CMC components is several times longer than for metals, which often deform. A further example is an oxide CMC lifting gate for a sintering furnace, which has survived more than 260,000 opening cycles. Application in brake disk Carbon/carbon (C/C) materials have found their way into the disc brakes of racing cars and airplanes, and C/SiC brake disks manufactured by the LSI process were qualified and are commercially available for sports cars. The advantages of these C/SiC disks are: Very little wear, resulting in lifetime use for a car with a normal driving load of , is forecast by manufacturers. No fading is experienced, even under high load. No surface humidity effect on the friction coefficient shows up, as in C/C brake disks. The corrosion resistance, for example to the road salt, is much better than for metal disks. The disk mass is only 40% of a metal disk. This translates into less unsprung and rotating mass. The weight reduction improves shock absorber response, road-holding comfort, agility, fuel economy, and thus driving comfort. The SiC-matrix of LSI has a very low porosity, which protects the carbon fibers quite well. Brake disks do not experience temperatures above for more than a few hours in their lifetime. Oxidation is therefore not a problem in this application. The reduction of manufacturing costs will decide the success of this application for middle-class cars. Application in slide bearings Conventional SiC, or sometimes the less expensive SiSiC, have been used successfully for more than 25 years in slide or journal bearings of pumps. The pumped liquid itself provides the lubricant for the bearing. Very good corrosion resistance against practically all kinds of media, and very low wear and low friction coefficients are the basis of this success. These bearings consist of a static bearing, shrink-fitted in its metallic environment, and a rotating shaft sleeve, mounted on the shaft. Under compressive stress, the ceramic static bearing has a low risk of failure, but a SiC shaft sleeve does not have this situation and must, therefore, have a large wall thickness and/or be specially designed. In large pumps with shafts in diameter, the risk of failure is higher due to the changing requirements on the pump performance – for example, load changes during operation. The introduction of SiC/SiC as a shaft sleeve