An ultra-low thermal mass refractory article includes fibers impregnated with a colloidal inorganic oxide. The refractory article has at least one of the following properties: (i) a density of 500 kg/m.sup.3 to 1500 kg/m.sup.3; (ii) a thermal conductivity of 1.0 Wm/K or less at 700° C.; and/or (iii) a linear thermal shrinkage at 1400° C. of less than 2.5%.

Provided is a ceramic composite material and a wavelength converter. The ceramic composite material includes: an alumina matrix, a fluorescent powder uniformly distributed in the alumina matrix, and scattering centers uniformly distributed in the alumina matrix, wherein the alumina matrix is an alumina ceramics, the scattering centers are alumina particles, the alumina particles each have a particle diameter of 1 μm to 10 μm, and the fluorescent powder has a particle diameter of 13 μm to 20 μm.

A method for manufacturing an environmental barrier comprising the steps of coating a rare earth silicate powder with a precursor of a densification agent in order to form a rare earth silicate powder coated with the precursor of the densification agent, thermally spraying the coated powder onto a substrate in order to obtain an at least partially amorphous environmental barrier on the substrate and thermally treating the environmental barrier in order to crystallize and densify the environmental barrier.

The invention relates to nickel-coated hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet composite powder, its preparation and high-performance composite ceramic cutting tool material. The composite powder has a core-shell structure with BNNS as the core and Ni as the shell. The self-lubricating ceramic cutting tool material is prepared by wet ball milling mixing and vacuum hot-pressing sintering with a phase alumina as the matrix, tungsten-titanium carbide as the reinforcing phase, nickel-coated hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet composite powder as the solid lubricant and magnesium oxide and yttrium oxide as the sintering aids. The invention also provides preparation methods of the nickel-coated hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet composite powder and the self-lubricating ceramic cutting tool material.

A method of making a carbon-carbon composite may comprise forming a Silicon-Aluminum-Oxygen-Nitrogen (SiAlON) precursor suspension and infiltrating a fibrous preform with the SiAlON precursor suspension. A SiAlON forming heating treatment may be performed on the fibrous preform to form SiAlON particles. The fibrous preform may be densified using chemical vapor infiltration to form a densified fibrous preform.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a fully ceramic capsulated nuclear fuel material containing three-layer-structured isotropic nuclear fuel particles coated with a ceramic having a composition which has a higher shrinkage than a matrix in order to prevent cracking of ceramic nuclear fuel, wherein the three-layer-structured nuclear fuel particles before coating is included in the range of between 5 and 40 fractions by volume based on after sintering. More specifically, the present invention provides a composition for preparing a fully ceramic capsulated nuclear fuel containing three-layer-structured isotropic particles coated with the substance which includes, as a main ingredient, a silicon carbine derived from a precursor of the silicon carbide wherein a condition of ΔL.sub.c>ΔL.sub.m at normal pressure sintering is created, where the sintering shrinkage of the coating layer of the three-layer-structured isotropic nuclear fuel particles is ΔL.sub.c and the sintering shrinkage of the silicon carbide matrix is ΔL.sub.m; material produced therefrom; and a method for manufacturing the material. The residual porosity of the fully ceramic capsulated nuclear fuel material is 4% or less.

Ceramic particles for use in a solar power tower and methods for making and using the ceramic particles are disclosed. The ceramic particle can include a sintered ceramic material formed from a mixture of a raw material and MnO. The sintered ceramic material can include about 0.01 wt % to about 10 wt % MnO, about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt % Fe.sub.2O.sub.3, and about 0.01 wt % to about 10 wt % Mn.sub.2O.sub.3. The ceramic particle can have a size from about 8 mesh to about 170 mesh.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a conductive ceramic composition comprising: conductive non-oxide ceramic particles; oxide ceramic particles electrostatically bonded or co-dispersed with the non-oxide ceramic particles; and a binder resin.

Systems and methods for infiltrating a fibrous preform in the in-plane direction and forming composite components are provided. A system for infiltrating a fibrous preform may include a slurry reservoir defining a cavity configured to receive a fibrous preform. The cavity may be configured such that an internal surface of the slurry reservoir is spaced apart from an outer diameter of the fibrous preform. A slurry inlet may be formed in the slurry reservoir. The slurry inlet and the cavity may be configured such that a slurry input into the cavity infiltrates the fibrous preform in an in-plane direction.

An abrasive particle having a body and a coating overlying the body, the coating including an amorphous material and at least one filler contained within the amorphous material. The abrasive particle may be included in a fixed abrasive article.