A process of manufacturing a chromium alloyed molybdenum silicide portion of a heating element comprising the steps of: forming a mixture of a chromium powder and a silicon powder; reacting the mixture to a reaction product in an inert atmosphere at a temperature of at least 1100° C. but not more than 1580° C.; converting the reaction product to a powder comprising CrSi.sub.2; forming a powder ceramic composition by mixing the powder comprising CrSi.sub.2 with a MoSi.sub.2 powder and optionally with an extrusion aid; forming the portion of the heating element; and sintering the portion of the heating element in a temperature of from about 1450° C. to about 1700° C.; characterized in that the chromium powder and the silicon powder are provided separately to the mixture.

A complex sintered body includes a lamination of a layer composed of a zirconia sintered body containing 0.5% or more by mole and less than 4% by mole of an oxide of cerium in terms of CeO.sub.2, 2% or more by mole and less than 6% by mole of yttria and 0.1% or more by mass and less than 2% by mass of an oxide of aluminum; and at least one of a layer composed of a zirconia-based sintered body containing 2.0% or more by mass and 20.0% or less by mass of an oxide of aluminum, and a layer composed of a zirconia-based sintered body containing 2% or more by mole and less than 6% by mole of yttria and a coloring agent.

The invention relates to a coloured zirconia ceramic dental mill blank having fluorescing properties, processes of production such a mill blank and uses thereof, in particular for producing zirconia ceramic dental restorations.

The dental mill blank having a shape allowing the dental mill blank to be attached or fixed to a machining device, the dental mill blank comprising a porous zirconia material, the porous zirconia material comprising the oxides Zr oxide calculated as ZrO.sub.2: from about 80 to about 97 wt.-%, Al oxide calculated as Al.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0 to about 0.15 wt.-%, Y oxide calculated as Y.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 1 to about 10 wt.-%, Bi oxide calculated as Bi.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0.01 to about 0.20 wt.-%, Tb oxide calculated as Tb.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0.01 to about 0.8 wt.-%, and optionally one or two of the following oxides: Er oxide calculated as Er.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0.01 to about 3.0 wt.-%, Mn oxide calculated as MnO.sub.2: from about 0.0001 to about 0.08 wt.-%, wt.-% with respect to the weight of the porous zirconia material.

A method for manufacturing a ceramic article including (i) a step of irradiating a powder mainly containing a ceramic material with an energy beam to sinter or melt and solidify the powder into a solidified portion, wherein the step is repeated a predetermined number of times to sequentially bond the resulting solidified portions together to obtain a ceramic modeling object, (ii) a step of allowing the shaped ceramic object to absorb a metal component-containing liquid that contains inorganic particles containing a metal element; and (iii) a step of heating the shaped ceramic object that has absorbed the metal component-containing liquid.

A ceramic body being configured of mainly BaTiO.sub.3-based crystalline particles in which a part of Ba is substituted with at least one rare earth element, wherein the ceramic body contains Ba.sub.6Ti.sub.17O.sub.40 crystalline particles of from 1.0 to 10.0% by mass.

One aspect relates to a process for producing a sintered workpiece, which includes sintering of a ceramic material at a temperature of at least 1000° C. and in an atmosphere, in the case of which the partial pressure of atmospheric air is reduced to less than 10.sup.−6-times, based on the ambient air at the same temperature under equilibrium conditions.

A method for producing a ceramic complex includes: preparing a raw material mixture that contains 5% by mass or more and 40% by mass or less of first rare earth aluminate fluorescent material particles containing an activating element and a first rare earth element different from the activating element, 0.1% by mass or more and 32% by mass or less of oxide particles containing a second rare earth element, and the balance of aluminum oxide particles, relative to 100% by mass of the total amount of the first rare earth aluminate fluorescent material particles, the oxide particles, and the aluminum oxide particles; preparing a molded body of the raw material mixture; and obtaining a sintered body by calcining the molded body in a temperature range of 1,550° C. or higher and 1,800° C. or lower.

The present invention relates to a zirconia mullite refractory composite comprising 55 wt.-% to 65 wt.-% Al.sub.2O.sub.3, 15 wt.-% to 25 wt.-% SiO.sub.2, 15 wt.-% to 25 wt.-% ZrO.sub.2 and less than 3 wt.-% raw material based impurities, whereby the mineralogical composition of the composite comprises 65 wt.-% to 85 wt.-% mullite and 15 wt.-% to 35 wt.-% zirconia.

Provided is a lithium complex oxide sintered plate for use in a positive electrode of a lithium secondary battery. The lithium complex oxide sintered plate has a structure in which a plurality of primary grains having a layered rock-salt structure are bonded, and has a porosity of 3 to 40%, a mean pore diameter of 15 μm or less, an open porosity of 70% or more, and a thickness of 15 to 200 μm. The plurality of primary grains has a primary grain diameter, i.e., a mean diameter of the primary grains, of 20 μm or less and a mean tilt angle of more than 0° to 30° or less. The mean tilt angle is a mean value of the angles defined by the (003) planes of the primary grains and the plate face of the lithium complex oxide sintered plate.

A transparent complex oxide sintered body is manufactured by sintering a compact in an inert atmosphere or vacuum, and HIP treating the sintered compact, provided that the compact is molded from a source powder based on a rare earth oxide: (Tb.sub.xY.sub.1-x).sub.2O.sub.3 wherein 0.4≤x≤0.6, and the compact, when heated in air from room temperature at a heating rate of 15° C./min, exhibits a weight gain of at least y % due to oxidative reaction, y being determined by the formula: y=2x+0.3. The sintered body has a long luminescent lifetime as a result of controlling the valence of Tb ion.