Abstract: Hardened wear-resistant members are secured to an underlying body member in a manner to accommodate differing coefficients of thermal expansion. In one form a connector comprising shear compliant material is secured at one of its faces to the body member and a hardened wear-resistant member is secured to the opposite face of the connector. In another embodiment, the body member has adjacent portions resiliently connected to each other and the engaging member is secured at spaced locations to the two resiliently joined portions such that different thermal expansion of the two parts will be accommodated.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the manufacture of hollow ceramic beams are described using a plurality of substantially parallel spaced mandrels mounted within a flexible mold bag which is filled with ceramic forming powder and compressed within an isostatic press to produce a compressed body of powder. A sliding spacer shoe slides along the mandrels during filling as the powder is vibrated for compaction to maintain the mandrels in a predetermined spaced relationship. The mandrels are removed from the compressed body and it is machined to the proper dimensions before firing in a kiln to sinter the body into a hollow ceramic beam. The ceramic beam includes internal support partitions formed integral with the outer walls of the beam by web portions of the body produced between the mandrels.