Antiballistic armour plate includes a ceramic body including a hard material, provided, on its inner face, with a back energy-dissipating coating. The ceramic body is monolithic. The constituent material of the ceramic body includes grains of ceramic material having a Vickers hardness that is higher than 15 GPa, and a matrix binding the grains, the matrix including a silicon nitride phase and/or a silicon oxynitride phase, the matrix representing between 5 and 40% by weight of the constituent material of the ceramic body. The maximum equivalent diameter of the grains of ceramic material is smaller than or equal to 800 micrometres. The constituent material of the ceramic body has an open porosity that is higher than 5% and lower than 14%. The metallic silicon content in the material, expressed per mm of thickness of the body, is lower than 0.5% by weight.

A method of infiltrating a fiber preform comprises positioning an assembly in a process chamber, where the assembly includes a tool comprising through-holes, a fiber preform constrained within the tool, and a sacrificial preform disposed between the fiber preform and the tool. The sacrificial preform is gas permeable. The process chamber is heated, and gaseous reactants are delivered into the process chamber during the heating. The gaseous reactants penetrate the through-holes of the tool and infiltrate the sacrificial preform and the fiber preform. Deposition of reaction products occurs on exposed surfaces of the fiber preform and the sacrificial preform, and a coating is formed thereon. In addition, the sacrificial preform accumulates excess coating material formed from increased reactions at short diffusion depths. Accordingly, the coating formed on the fiber preform exhibits a thickness variation of about 10% or less throughout a volume of the fiber preform.

An oxide-based solid electrolyte with a high lithium ion conductance is provided. A lithium ion-conducting garnet type oxide includes Li, La, Ga, Zr, a halogen element, and oxygen. A lithium ion conductivity at room temperature is not lower than 1.0×10.sup.−3 S/cm. A proportion of Ga with respect to 1 mole of the oxide may be not larger than 0.5 moles.

The halogen element may be at least one type selected from the group consisting of Cl, Br, and I, and a proportion of Li with respect to 1 mole of the oxide may be not smaller than 6.1 moles and smaller than 6.5 moles.

A cubic boron nitride sintered material includes: more than or equal to 20 volume % and less than 80 volume % of cubic boron nitride grains; and more than 20 volume % and less than or equal to 80 volume % of a binder phase, and when a carbon content is measured from a cubic boron nitride grain into the binder phase in a direction perpendicular to an interface between the cubic boron nitride grain and the binder phase using TEM-EDX, a first region having a carbon content larger than an average value of a carbon content of the binder phase exists, the interface exists in the first region, and a length of the first region is more than or equal to 0.1 nm and less than or equal to 10 nm.

A member for optical glass production apparatus is a member exposed to a gas containing a halogen element in a high temperature environment; the member includes a first member (4) directly or indirectly supporting an optical glass (10) and a second member (5) supporting the first member (4).

A preform intended for the production of a dental prosthesis. The preform includes a group of agglomerated ceramic, glass-ceramic or glass particles, such that, as volume percents: more than 40% and less than 90% of the particles of said group have a size greater than 0.5 μm and less than 3.5 μm, said particles hereinafter being denoted “enamel particles”, and more than 10% and less than 60% of the particles of said group have a size greater than 3.5 μm and less than 5.5 μm, said particles hereinafter being denoted “dentine particles.” The microstructure of the preform is such that there is an axis X, termed “axis of variation”, along which the Ve/(Ve+Vd) ratio changes continuously, Ve and Vd denoting the volume percents of enamel particles and of dentine particles, respectively. The enamel and dentine particles representing, together, more than 90% of the volume of the agglomerated particles.

A method for constructing a plurality of ceramic layers by winding continuous ceramic filaments to prepare RF-transparent structures is provided. Dielectric properties of each layer of the plurality of ceramic layers are characterized by an inter-filament spacing, a filament count and thickness. Once the plurality of ceramic layers are constructed, a structure is removed from a winding surface, wherein the winding surface is a mandrel, infiltrated with a resin in a separate set up and fired.

A ceramic electronic component includes a body, including a dielectric layer and an internal electrode. The dielectric layer includes a plurality of dielectric grains, and at least one of the plurality of dielectric grains has a core-dual shell structure having a core and a dual shell. The dual shell includes a first shell, surrounding at least a portion of the core, and a second shell, surrounding at least a portion of the first shell. The dual shell includes different types of rare earth elements R1 and R2, and R2.sub.S1/R1.sub.S1 is 0.01 or less and R2.sub.S2/R1.sub.S1 is 0.5 to 3.0, where R1.sub.S1 and R1.sub.S2 denote concentrations of R1 included in the first shell and the second shell, respectively, and R2.sub.S1 and R2.sub.S2 denote concentrations of R2 included in the first shell and the second shell, respectively.

The invention relates to a solid electrolyte including partially stabilized zirconia, a producing method thereof, and a gas sensor including a solid electrolyte. The partially stabilized zirconia includes crystal particles, the crystal particles include mixed phase particles each having a high-concentration phase and a low-concentration phase, the high-concentration phase being defined such that a concentration of the stabilizer is 4.7 mol % or more, the low-concentration phase being defined as a concentration of the stabilizer is less than 4.7 mol %.

It is described a process for producing transparent ceramic bodies with at least two zones having different garnet composition, in particular in which one of said zones has composition Y.sub.3AI.sub.5O.sub.12. The invention is especially useful for the production of transparent ceramic bodies having preset complex shapes and/or a controlled complex distribution of doping ions.