Cocoa Beach Conference Proceedings:  Conference History

 

The Annual Conference on Ceramics, Metal and Carbon Composites Materials and Structures, commonly referred to as the Cocoa Beach Conference, has been held each year since 1977.  The Refractory Composites Working Group directly preceded today's Conference.   The Refractory Composites Working Group (RCWG) was formed in 1958 by the Air Force Materials Laboratory (AFML) to provide a forum for discussion of refractory coatings.  Larry Hjelm and J.J. Gangler oversaw the majority of the workshops and they required attendees to present data with no sales pitch.  These meetings were initially known as the High Temperature Inorganic Refractory Coatings Working Group.  However, in the early 1960’s the name changed to the Refractory Composite Working Group.  While the RCWG held regular meetings, the Ceramic-Metals System Division of the American Ceramic Society also held meetings.  The two groups overlapped membership and content.  In January 1977 the RCWG merged with the CMS Division under the guidance of Jerome Persh, Jim Mueller, John Buckley, Jim McCauley, and Sy Bortz.  Today, the closed session of the Annual Conference on Ceramics, Metal and Carbon Composites Materials and Structures provides the forum for discussion of all high temperature materials crucial to our national defense.  This closed session is limited to U.S. citizens only and the data is protected by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).