A composition including a plant medium and a poly-oxygenated metal hydroxide that comprises a clathrate containing oxygen gas molecules. The poly-oxygenated metal hydroxide may comprise of a poly-oxygenated aluminum hydroxide. The composition may include one or more nutrients. The composition may be in a solid form, a fluid form, or a combination thereof. The poly-oxygenated aluminum hydroxide is soluble in a fluid. In one embodiment, the poly-oxygenated metal hydroxide composition may have particles having a diameter of 212 m or less, and which may be homogeneous.

A method for producing an oriented sintered body according to the present invention includes the steps of: (a) preparing a multilayer body, the multilayer body including a layer including a fine raw-material powder and a layer including a plate-like raw-material powder which are alternately stacked each other, particles of the plate-like raw-material powder being arranged such that surfaces of the particles of the plate-like raw-material powder extend along a surface of the layer including a fine raw-material powder; and (b) sintering the multilayer body.

The present invention provides alumina hydrate particles, a flame retardant and a resin composition that are each for an electric wire/cable covering material improvable in flame retardancy and mechanical properties while the covering material keeps acid resistance; such an electric wire/cable; and producing methods thereof. The alumina hydrate particles of the present invention for electric wire/cable covering material have an average particle size of 0.5 to 2.5 m, and having a primary particle variation R of 24% or less, the variation R being represented by the following expression: primary particle variation R=standard deviation (m) of major axis diameters of the primary particles/average value (m) of the major axis diameters of the primary particles100.

Described herein are stable aqueous dispersions of alumina; methods of decreasing the viscosity of an alumina slurry; methods of decreasing the D50 of an alumina slurry; and methods of decreasing the level of hard packing in an alumina slurry, where the slurry comprises alumina feed material, water, and a dispersant agent.

A process for producing metastable nanocrystalline alpha-alumina (-Al.sub.2O.sub.3) having particle sizes smaller than 12 nm. Starting crystallites of -Al.sub.2O.sub.3 having a particle size larger than 12 nm, typically on the order of about 50 nm, are ball-milled at low temperatures to produce a nanocrystalline -Al.sub.2O.sub.3 powder having a particle size of less than 12 nm, i.e., below the theoretical room temperature thermodynamic size limit at which -Al.sub.2O.sub.3 changes phase to -Al.sub.2O.sub.3, wherein the powder remains in the -Al.sub.2O.sub.3 phase at all times.

Milling methods that use grinding media particles formed of a ceramic material having an interlamellar spacing of less than 1250 nm.

A method of producing high strength shaped alumina by feeding alumina power into an agglomerator having a shaft with mixers able to displace the alumina power along the shaft, spraying a liquid binder onto the alumina power as it is displaced along the shaft to form a shaped alumina, and calcining the shaped alumina. The shaped alumina produced having a loose bulk density of greater than or equal to 1.20 g/ml, a surface area less than 10 m.sup.2/g, impurities of less than 5 ppm of individual metals and less than 9 ppm of impurities in total, and/or crush strength of greater than 12,000 psi.

A method of producing high strength shaped alumina by feeding alumina power into an agglomerator having a shaft with mixers able to displace the alumina power along the shaft, spraying a liquid binder onto the alumina power as it is displaced along the shaft to form a shaped alumina, and calcining the shaped alumina. The shaped alumina produced having a loose bulk density of greater than or equal to 1.20 g/ml, a surface area less than 10 m.sup.2/g, impurities of less than 5 ppm of individual metals and less than 9 ppm of impurities in total, and/or crush strength of greater than 12,000 psi.

Alumina products containing a fine particle size component and a coarse particle size component, and with specific particle size characteristics and irregular and non-spherical particle shapes, are disclosed. These alumina products can be used in polymer formulations to produce composites having high isotropic thermal conductivity.

Alumina products containing a fine particle size component and a coarse particle size component, and with specific particle size characteristics and irregular and non-spherical particle shapes, are disclosed. These alumina products can be used in polymer formulations to produce composites having high isotropic thermal conductivity.