A process for preparing a sintered silicon carbide body including sintering a sample including silicon carbide particles to form a shaped sintered silicon carbide body, the particles containing a silicon carbide core and a surface layer containing carbon and oxygen, the sample having at least 90 weight % being C or Si and having a carbon to silicon molar ratio molC/molSi higher than 1 and a carbon in excess to oxygen molar ratio Cex/molO which is higher than 0.5 and lower than 5.3.

Materials systems resistant to penetration of molten salts and may be present within a molten-salt-facing wall of a device for containing a molten salt bath at an elevated temperature, and molten-salt-facing walls and devices formed by such materials systems. A first layer of such a system defines an outer surface for direct contact with the molten salt bath, and resists erosion and corrosion and is penetrable by the molten salt at the elevated temperature. A second layer is located adjacent to the first layer and exhibits little or no wetting by the molten salt so that at least a portion of a thickness of the second layer is not penetrable by the molten salt. A third layer is located adjacent to the second layer and is porous and exhibits a low thermal conductivity at the elevated temperature.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a multilayer structure having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and including dielectric layers and internal electrode layers that are alternately stacked, the dielectric layers being mainly composed of BaTiO.sub.3, the internal electrode layers being alternately exposed to two edge faces of the multilayer chip opposite to each other. A Zr/Ti ratio is 0.02 or more and 0.10 or less in a capacity section. A Ba/Ti ratio is more than 0.900 and less than 1.010 in the capacity section. A Eu/Ti ratio is 0.005 or more and 0.05 or less in the capacity section. A Mn/Ti ratio is 0.0005 or more and 0.05 or less in the capacity section. A total amount of a rare earth element or rare earth elements is less than the amount of Eu.

A composite ceramic including: a lithium garnet major phase; and a grain growth inhibitor minor phase, as defined herein. Also disclosed is a method of making composite ceramic, pellets and tapes thereof, a solid electrolyte, and an electrochemical device including the solid electrolyte, as defined herein.

A thin film is provided that primarily comprises titanium oxide and includes Ti, Ag and O. The thin film contains 29.6 at % or more and 34.0 at % or less of Ti, 0.003 at % or more and 7.4 at % or less of Ag, and oxygen as the remainder thereof and has a ratio of oxygen to metals, O/(2Ti+0.5Ag), of 0.97 or more. The thin film has a high refractive index and a low extinction coefficient. In addition, the thin film has superior transmittance, minimally deteriorates in reflectance, and is useful as an interference film or a protective film for an optical information recording medium. The film may also be applied to a glass substrate to provide a heat reflective film, an antireflective film, or an interference filter. A method of producing the thin film is also disclosed.

A dielectric composition includes dielectric particles. At least one of the dielectric particles include a main phase and a secondary phase. The main phase has a main component of barium titanate. The secondary phase exists inside the main phase and has a higher barium content than the main phase.

A composite ceramic including: a lithium garnet major phase; and a grain growth inhibitor minor phase, as defined herein. Also disclosed is a method of making composite ceramic, pellets and tapes thereof, a solid electrolyte, and an electrochemical device including the solid electrolyte, as defined herein.

A polycrystalline dielectric solid body has a main phase of the general formula Ba.sub.0.995(Ti.sub.0.85Zr.sub.0.15)O.sub.3 and is co-doped with manganese and a rare earth element. The solid body can be used as a dielectric electrode in a method for treating tumors with alternating electric fields.

A dielectric material includes a perovskite as a main phase, an A site of the perovskite including at least Ba, a B site of the perovskite including at least Ti, and Eu having +2 valence and +3 valence. A ratio of +2 valence of Eu is 21% or more.

A dielectric composition includes a main-phase particle and segregation particles. The main-phase particle includes a main component having a perovskite crystal structure represented by a general formula of ABO.sub.3. The dielectric composition includes RA, RB, M, and Si. Each of A, B, RA, RB, and M is one or more elements selected from a specific element group. Each of an RA content C.sub.RA to the main component, an RB content C.sub.RB to the main component, an M content to the main component, and a Si content to the main component is within a predetermined range. 0.50<(α/β)/(C.sub.RA/C.sub.RB)≤1.00 is satisfied, where a is an average RA content (mol %) and f3 is an average RB content (mol %) of specific segregation particles mainly including RA, RB, Si, Ba, and Ti in the segregation particles.