Provided is a method for producing a composite alloy for use in an electrode for an alkaline storage battery, including a powder preparation step of preparing a hydrogen storage alloy powder containing Ti and Cr and having a BCC structure, an etching step of applying an acid to the hydrogen storage alloy powder prepared in the powder preparation step, a Pd film forming step of coating the surface of the hydrogen storage alloy powder subjected to the etching step with Pd using a substitution plating method, and a heat treatment step of heating the hydrogen storage alloy powder having a Pd film formed, at said heating being a temperature of 500° C. or less, wherein in the Pd coating forming step, the hydrogen storage alloy powder is coated with Pd under the condition that the Pd element weight ratio of the composite alloy to be produced is 0.47% or more.

The present invention relates to a film-shaped firing material (1) which contains: sinterable metal particles (10); a binder component (20) that is a solid at room temperature; and a liquid component (30) that is a liquid at room temperature, the liquid component having a boiling point from 300 to 450° C.

The present invention relates to a film-shaped firing material (1) which contains: sinterable metal particles (10); a binder component (20) that is a solid at room temperature; and a liquid component (30) that is a liquid at room temperature, the liquid component having a boiling point from 300 to 450° C.

There are provided a spherical silver powder which has the same diameter as that of a spherical silver powder produced by a conventional wet reduction method and which can sufficiently sinter the silver particles thereof to cause the silver particles to be adhered to each other at a relatively low temperature to form a conductive film having a low volume resistivity when it is used for a baked type conductive paste, and a method for producing the same. A spherical silver powder, which contains a neutral or basic amino acid having a carbon number of not less than 5 in each of particles thereof and which has an average particle diameter D.sub.50 of 0.2 to 5 μm based on a laser diffraction method, is produced by adding the neutral or basic amino acid having the carbon number of not less than 5 (such as proline, tyrosine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, arginine or histidine) to a water reaction system containing silver ions to mix a reducing agent therewith to deposit silver particles by reduction.

There are provided a spherical silver powder which has the same diameter as that of a spherical silver powder produced by a conventional wet reduction method and which can sufficiently sinter the silver particles thereof to cause the silver particles to be adhered to each other at a relatively low temperature to form a conductive film having a low volume resistivity when it is used for a baked type conductive paste, and a method for producing the same. A spherical silver powder, which contains a neutral or basic amino acid having a carbon number of not less than 5 in each of particles thereof and which has an average particle diameter D.sub.50 of 0.2 to 5 μm based on a laser diffraction method, is produced by adding the neutral or basic amino acid having the carbon number of not less than 5 (such as proline, tyrosine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, arginine or histidine) to a water reaction system containing silver ions to mix a reducing agent therewith to deposit silver particles by reduction.

Provided is a method of producing spherical silver powder, which makes it possible to easily produce spherical silver powder having primary particle diameters with less variation than conventional powder and spherical silver powder obtained by the method. The method of producing spherical silver powder includes a reduction precipitation step of precipitating silver particles by reduction by adding a reductant including hydrazine carbonate to an aqueous reaction system containing silver ions.

The present invention provides a contact member that strikes a balance between low electrical resistance and sliding durability under the condition of load as low as about 0.1 N. A contact member of the invention has a metal base and a coating disposed on at least part of the metal base. The coating contains fluorinated oil having a polar group, and metal particles surface-treated with a fluorine-based compound having a polar group.

A sputtering target-backing plate assembly obtained by bonding a sputtering target and a backing plate using a brazing material, wherein a braze bonding layer which bonds the sputtering target and the backing plate contains a material having thermal conductivity that is higher than that of the brazing material in an amount of 5 vol % or more and 50 vol % or less, and a thickness of the braze bonding layer is 100 μm or more and 700 μm or less. An object is to prevent the seepage of the brazing material while maintaining the thickness of the braze bonding layer.

An anode catalyst layer of an electrochemical cell includes an anode catalyst material. The anode catalyst material is a Pt-based alloy. The Pt-based alloy is a binary Pt-M alloy, where M is Ge, Se, Ag, Sb, Os, or Tl. The Pt-based alloy is a ternary Pt-M.sup.I-M.sup.II alloy, where M.sup.I is Ru, Ge, or Mo, and M.sup.II is Ir, Os, Tl, Au, Bi, Se, or Pd.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to apparatus and methods for producing a downhole electrical component, having steps of providing a non-conductive polymer substrate, establishing an active area on the non-conductive polymer substrate, patterning the active area on the non-conductive polymer substrate with a conductive material through an additive manufacturing process and incorporating the patterned non-conductive polymer substrate into a final arrangement.