A process for manufacturing ceramic-metal composite material, comprises dissolving ceramic powder into water to obtain an aqueous solution of ceramic; mixing metal powder having a multimodal particle size where largest particle size is one fourth of the minimum dimension of a device, with the aqueous solution of ceramic to obtain a powder containing ceramic precipitated on the surface of metal particles; mixing the powder containing ceramic precipitated on the surface of the metal particles, with ceramic powder having a particle size below 50 m, to obtain a powder mixture; adding saturated aqueous solution of ceramic to the powder mixture to obtain an aqueous composition containing ceramic and metal; compressing the aqueous composition to form a disc of ceramic-metal composite material containing ceramic and metal; and removing water from the ceramic-metal composite material; wherein ceramic content of the disc is 10 vol-% to 35 vol-%. Alternatively, ceramic-ceramic composite material may be manufactured.

Provided is a piezoelectric ceramics including crystal grains each including: a first region that is formed of a perovskite-type metal oxide having a crystal structure in which a central element of a unit cell is located at an asymmetrical position; and a second region that is formed of a perovskite-type metal oxide having a crystal structure in which a central element of a unit cell is located at a symmetrical position, and that is present inside the first region, wherein a ratio of a cross-sectional area of the second region to a cross-sectional area of the piezoelectric ceramics is 0.1% or less.

The invention relates to a ceramic material, comprising lead zirconate titanate, which additionally contains K and optionally Cu. The ceramic material can be used in an electroceramic component, for example a piezoelectric actuator. The invention also relates to methods for producing the ceramic material and the electronic component.

The invention relates to a ceramic material, comprising lead zirconate titanate, which additionally contains K and optionally Cu. The ceramic material can be used in an electroceramic component, for example a piezoelectric actuator. The invention also relates to methods for producing the ceramic material and the electronic component.

A method for producing a piezoelectric component is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes producing a ceramic precursor material of the general formula Pb.sub.1-x-y-(2a-b)/2V.sub.(2a-b)/2Ba.sub.xSr.sub.y[(Ti.sub.zZr.sub.1-z).sub.1-a-bW.sub.aRE.sub.b]O.sub.3, where RE is a rare earth metal and V is a Pb vacancy, mixing the ceramic precursor material with a sintering aid, forming a stack which includes alternating layers including the ceramic precursor material and a layer including Cu and debindering and sintering the stack thereby forming the piezoelectric component having Cu electrodes and at least one piezoelectric ceramic layer including Pb.sub.1-x-y-[(2a-b)/2]-p/2V.sub.[(2a-b)/2-p/2]Cu.sub.pBa.sub.xSr.sub.y[(Ti.sub.zZr.sub.1-z).sub.1-a-bW.sub.aRE.sub.b]O.sub.3, where 0x0.035, 0y0.025, 0.42z0.5, 0.0045a0.009, 0.009b0.011, and 2a>b, p2ab.

A method for producing a piezoelectric component is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes producing a ceramic precursor material of the general formula Pb.sub.1-x-y-(2a-b)/2V.sub.(2a-b)/2Ba.sub.xSr.sub.y[(Ti.sub.zZr.sub.1-z).sub.1-a-bW.sub.aRE.sub.b]O.sub.3, where RE is a rare earth metal and V is a Pb vacancy, mixing the ceramic precursor material with a sintering aid, forming a stack which includes alternating layers including the ceramic precursor material and a layer including Cu and debindering and sintering the stack thereby forming the piezoelectric component having Cu electrodes and at least one piezoelectric ceramic layer including Pb.sub.1-x-y-[(2a-b)/2]-p/2V.sub.[(2a-b)/2-p/2]Cu.sub.pBa.sub.xSr.sub.y[(Ti.sub.zZr.sub.1-z).sub.1-a-bW.sub.aRE.sub.b]O.sub.3, where 0x0.035, 0y0.025, 0.42z0.5, 0.0045a0.009, 0.009b0.011, and 2a>b, p2ab.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a multilayer body including a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layers and the internal electrodes are stacked alternately; and external electrodes provided on end surfaces of the multilayer body and electrically connected to the internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layers each include main crystal grains including calcium and/or strontium, and zirconium; and an additive component including lithium, the internal electrodes include copper, and the dielectric layers have lithium concentrations with a standard deviation of about 1.03 atomic percent or less in the thickness direction.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a multilayer body including a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layers and the internal electrodes are stacked alternately; and external electrodes provided on end surfaces of the multilayer body and electrically connected to the internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layers each include main crystal grains including calcium and/or strontium, and zirconium; and an additive component including lithium, the internal electrodes include copper, and the dielectric layers have lithium concentrations with a standard deviation of about 1.03 atomic percent or less in the thickness direction.

A porous plate-shaped filler of the present invention is a plate shape having an aspect ratio of 3 or more, a surface shape is one of a round shape, an oval and a round-corner polygonal shape, and its minimum length is from 0.1 to 50 m. Furthermore, a sectional shape is one of an arch shape, an elliptic shape, and a quadrangular shape in which at least a part of corners is rounded. Consequently, it is possible to obtain the heat insulation film in which the porous plate-shaped fillers 1 are easy to be laminated and the heat insulation effect improves.

A porous plate-shaped filler of the present invention is a plate shape having an aspect ratio of 3 or more, a surface shape is one of a round shape, an oval and a round-corner polygonal shape, and its minimum length is from 0.1 to 50 m. Furthermore, a sectional shape is one of an arch shape, an elliptic shape, and a quadrangular shape in which at least a part of corners is rounded. Consequently, it is possible to obtain the heat insulation film in which the porous plate-shaped fillers 1 are easy to be laminated and the heat insulation effect improves.