A preliminary investigation of shock compression and release properties has been performed on four ceramics: silicon carbide, titanium diboride, boron carbide and zirconium dioxide. Eight planar impact experiments using thin discs of similar ceramic as impactor and target have been completed. The particle velocity history at the interface between the back of the target ceramic and a lithium fluoride window material was acquired with a laser velocity interferometer (VISAR). These wave profiles indicate that each of these materials responds in a unique way to shock loading. Peak impact stresses in these experiments range between 20 and 50 GPa, leading to pronounced permanent deformation behavior of these materials. Dynamic compression and release stress-strain behavior of the ceramics, formulated with numerical iteration methods, is compared with compressive strength properties determined from the experimental data. The current experiments provide data for these ceramic materials which can be used to evaluate computational material models in wave propagation codes. 23 refs., 25 figs., 4 tabs.