A carbon-metal/alloy composite material includes a composition represented by (1-a)Sn.sub.1-xM.sup.1.sub.x+aM.sup.2+cC, wherein: M.sup.1 includes one or more transition metals, metals, or metalloids; M.sup.2 includes one or more transition metals, metals, or metalloids; x is 0≦x≦1; a is 0≦a≦1; and c is 0<c≦99. A method of forming the carbon-metal/alloy composite material includes the steps of dissolving one or more precursor materials in a solvent to form a solution; adding an organic carbon forming precursor to the solution to form a mixture; heating the mixture in an autoclave reactor for a prescribed period of time; separating solids formed from the mixture after the heating; washing the separated solids with a washing solvent; and heating the washed solids under a non-oxidizing atmosphere to form the carbon-metal/alloy composite material.

A method of forming a super hard polycrystalline construction comprises forming a liquid suspension of a first mass of nano-ceramic particles and a mass of particles or grains of super hard material having an average particle or grain size of 1 or more microns, dispersing the particles or grains in the liquid suspension to form a substantially homogeneous suspension, drying the suspension to form an admix of the nano-ceramic and super hard grains or particles, and forming a pre-sinter assembly comprising the admix. The pre-sinter assembly is then sintered to form a body of polycrystalline super hard material comprising a first fraction of super hard grains and a second fraction, the nano-ceramic particles forming the second fraction.

The super hard grains are spaced along at least a portion of the peripheral surface by one or more nano-ceramic grains, the super hard grains having a greater average grain size than that of the grains in the second fraction which have an average size of less than around 999 nm.

Provided is a thermoelectric material satisfying (MX).sub.1+a(TX.sub.2).sub.n and having a superlattice structure, wherein M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Group 13, Group 14, and Group 15, T is at least one element selected from Group 5, X is a chalcogenide element, a is a real number satisfying 0<a<1, and n is a natural number of 1 to 3.

A method of forming a super hard polycrystalline construction comprises forming a liquid suspension of nano-sized super hard particles and particles of super hard material having an average particle or grain size of 1 or more microns, dispersing the particles in the liquid suspension to form a substantially homogeneous suspension which is then dried and sintered to form a body of polycrystalline super hard material comprising a first and second fractions of super hard grains, the nano-sized particles forming the second fraction. The super hard grains in the first fraction are bonded along at least a portion of the peripheral surface(s) thereof to at least a portion of a plurality of nano-sized grains in the second fraction, the grains in the first fraction having a greater average grain size than that of the grains in the second fraction which is less than 999 nm, the average grain size of the first fraction being around 1 micron or more

A method of forming a ceramic matrix composite includes depositing particles on a ceramic fabric formed from a plurality of ceramic tows, applying a binder to at least the particles to form a stabilized ceramic fabric, forming a preform using the stabilized ceramic fabric, and densifying the preform. The ceramic tows are formed from a first material and the particles are formed from at least a second material.

A refractory has the form of a dry, mineral batch of fire-resistant mineral materials combined in such a way that refractories which are long-term resistant to fayalite-containing slags, sulfidic melts (mattes), sulfates and non-ferrous metal melts and are used for refractory linings in industrial non-ferrous metal melting furnaces can be manufactured. The refractory at least contains: —at least one coarse-grained olivine raw material as the main component; —magnesia (MgO) meal; —at least one fire-resistant reagent which, during the melting process, acts (in situ) in a reducing manner on non-ferrous metal oxide melts and/or non-ferrous metal iron oxide melts and converts same into non-ferrous metal melts.

An injection system comprises a fluid control member and a reciprocating member; wherein the fluid control member is configured to form a carbon composite-to-metal seal with the reciprocating member in response to application of a compressive force; the carbon composite comprising carbon and a binder containing one or more of the following: SiO.sub.2; Si; B; B.sub.2O.sub.3; a filler metal; or an alloy of the filler metal, and the filler metal comprising one or more of the following: aluminum; copper; titanium; nickel; tungsten; chromium; iron; manganese; zirconium; hafnium; vanadium; niobium; molybdenum; tin; bismuth; antimony; lead; cadmium; or selenium.

A method for making a SnO thin film includes steps of: providing a substrate and a tin oxide sputtering target; spacing the substrate and the tin oxide sputtering target from each other; and sputtering the SnO thin film on the substrate by using a magnetron sputtering method. The tin oxide sputtering target comprises uniformly mixed elemental Sn and SnO.sub.2. An atomic ratio of Sn atoms and O atoms in the tin oxide sputtering target satisfies 1:2<Sn:O≦2:1.

There is disclosed an article which is formed of a solid-phase or liquid-phase sintered product of a metal powder, ceramic powder or glass powder. For manufacturing the article, an extrudable mixture which contains the material powder and a thermoplastic binder is shaped into a continuous filament suitable for use in fused filament 3D printers. The printed object is then invested in plaster or other castable refractory. The invested object is then subjected to heating. The heating process burns off the thermoplastic binder and sinters the powders of metal, glass or ceramic, leaving a pure metal, glass or ceramic object.

The extrudable mixture is produced by preparing a material powder, preparing thermoplastic binder, blending the material powder and the thermoplastic binder together. The most preferable extrudable mixture contains 80 to 92% by weight of metal powder, 8 to 20% by weight of thermoplastic binder, and 0.0 to 0.1% unavoidable impurities. The extrudable mixture is then extruded into a continuous filament suitable for use in various 3d printing hardware.

A method of producing, from a continuous or discontinuous (e.g., chopped) carbon fiber, partially to fully converted metal carbide fibers. The method comprises reacting a carbon fiber material with at least one of a metal or metal oxide source material at a temperature greater than a melting temperature of the metal or metal oxide source material (e.g., where practical, at a temperature greater than the vaporization temperature of the metal or metal oxide source material). Additional methods, various forms of carbon fiber, metal carbide fibers, and articles including the metal carbide fibers are also disclosed.