a slurry of ceramic materials in thin sheets and densifying to net shape without applied pressure thus the hybrid segments 12 can be formed as curved ceramic segments the thin sheets preferably take the form of a tile and are laminated with polymer composite prepreg layers the inventive method of making the hybrid segments 12 advantageously produces ceramic elements to net shape using thin flexible tape cast layers that can be molded in their green state as cast the green thin sheets tapes contain an organic binder that renders them flexible in this state the green thin sheets can be placed within ceramic tooling and shaped upon heat treatment the binder burns out and the sheets partially sinter and become rigid in this way the hybrid segments 12 are formed such that its exterior surface follows the outer mold line profile of the blade 11 including the blade tip curvatures the binder phase in the tape facilitates lamination of green tapes at room temperature therefore thin green tapes can be stacked together to increase the thickness of the ceramic tiles or to produce tiles with a tapered thickness the tile thickness can also be tapered by ply drop off during lamination rather than by costly machining thicker surface tiles can be used in highly impacted areas and thinner tiles in areas that experience less severe erosion in service furthermore the ability to use tape lamination to build complex shaped ceramic tiles will allow consideration of a large number of protective cover designs without the restriction of a processing cost penalty the use of pressureless sintering to full or nearly full density advantageously provides a large decrease in cost relative to hot pressed materials previously high density was achieved by using expensive hot pressing the method of making the hybrid.