The 12th International Conference on Ceramic Materials and Components for Energy and Environmental Applications (CMCEE 2018, http://www.cmcee2018.org/), held in Singapore in July 2018, is eleventh in a series of international conferences that provide a forum for the presentations and information exchange on the latest emerging ceramic technologies.

The goal of the conference is to identify key challenges and opportunities for various ceramic technologies in creating sustainable development. Despite having excellent properties, ceramics and Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) are still much less used than metals and polymers for energy and environmental applications such as: energy production systems (fuel cells, thermos-electrics, photovoltaics, nuclear systems, wind and geothermal, etc.), energy storage and distribution (batteries, phase changing materials, etc.), energy conservation and efficiency (gas turbines, heat exchangers, etc.) and environmental systems (advanced sensors, filters and membranes, etc.). One reason of concern for designers and engineers is the impossibility of welding or riveting ceramics and CMCs together or to other materials. That is why ceramics and CMCs integration to metals and to other materials is more and more considered an enabling technology to obtain more efficient components, devices and structures for energy production and environment. Together with the development of reliable joining materials and technologies, the availability of widely accepted testing methods for joined ceramics and CMCs can also widen their use. 

The symposium organizers were Valentina Casalegno and Milena Salvo from POLITO and the NEXTOWER activity.