Provided is a method for producing a β-sialon fluorescent material, comprising preparing a composition containing a silicon nitride that contains aluminium, oxygen, and europium; heat-treating the composition at a temperature in a range of 1300° C. or more and 1600° C. or less to obtain a heat-treated product; subjecting the heat-treated product to a temperature-decrease of from the heat treatment temperature to 1000° C. as a first temperature-decrease step; and subjecting the heat-treated product to a temperature-decrease of from 1000° C. to 400° C. as a second temperature-decrease step. The first temperature-decrease step has a temperature-decrease rate in a range of 1.5° C./min or more and 200° C./min or less, and the second temperature-decrease step has a temperature-decrease rate in a range of 1° C./min or more and 200° C./min or less.

One aspect of the disclosure provides an optical wavelength conversion member including a polycrystalline ceramic sintered body containing, as main components, Al.sub.2O.sub.3 crystal grains and crystal grains represented by formula (Y,A).sub.3B.sub.5O.sub.12:Ce. In the optical wavelength conversion member, a (Y,A).sub.3B.sub.5O.sub.12:Ce crystal grain has a region wherein the A concentration of a peripheral portion of the (Y,A).sub.3B.sub.5O.sub.12:Ce crystal grain is higher than that of an interior portion of the (Y,A).sub.3B.sub.5O.sub.12:Ce crystal grain. Thus, the optical wavelength conversion member exhibits high fluorescence intensity (i.e., high emission intensity) and high heat resistance (i.e., low likelihood of temperature quenching). The optical wavelength conversion member has a structure wherein the element A concentration of a peripheral portion of a (Y,A).sub.3B.sub.5O.sub.12:Ce crystal grain differs from that in an interior portion of the crystal grain. This structure can achieve a ceramic fluorescent body exhibiting superior fluorescent characteristics and superior thermal characteristics with varied colors of emitted light.

Herein is disclosed a method of producing a ceramic support suitable for a catalyst, the method comprising providing a porous ceramic structure, comprising a body portion with a monomodal macropore structure, wherein the macropores comprises a first mean pore size; washcoating the porous ceramic structure using a suspension comprising oxide and/or hydroxide nanoparticles and drying and calcinating the washcoated porous ceramic structure at a temperature below the melting point of the nanoparticles. In addition, the ceramic support and its structure is disclosed.

A capacitor body includes a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrode layers stacked alternately. The plurality of dielectric layers include crystal grains of barium titanate, a rare earth element, and silicon. The crystal grains include a first crystal grain and a second crystal grain. The crystal grains each include a surface layer as a shell and an interior portion surrounded by the shell as a core. The first crystal grain has a higher concentration distribution of the rare earth element in the shell than in the core. The second crystal grain has distribution in which a ratio of a concentration of the silicon in the core and the shell is lower than a ratio of a concentration of the rare earth element in the core and the shell in the first crystal grain.

Phosphors include a CaAlSiN.sub.3 family crystal phase, wherein the CaAlSiN.sub.3 family crystal phase comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mn, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb.

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.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of low temperature co-fireable dielectric materials which can be used in conjunction with high dielectric materials to form composite structures, in particular for isolators and circulators for radiofrequency components. Embodiments of the low temperature co-fireable dielectric materials can be scheelite or garnet structures, for example, bismuth vanadate. Adhesives and/or glue is not necessary for the formation of the isolators and circulators.

Disclosed is a joined ceramic body comprising a first ceramic portion comprising a first ceramic, a second ceramic portion comprising a second ceramic, and a joining layer formed between the first ceramic portion and the second ceramic portion. The joining layer has a bond thickness of from 0.5 to 20 um and comprises silicon dioxide having a total impurity content of 20 ppm and less. A method of making the joined ceramic body and a joining material are also disclosed.

A dielectric composition and a multilayer capacitor including the same are disclosed. The dielectric composition including: a BaTiO.sub.3-based main ingredient; a first auxiliary ingredient including rare earth elements; and a second auxiliary ingredient including at least one of Ba and Ca but essentially including Ba, wherein the rare earth elements include Tb and Dy, and the first auxiliary ingredient and the second auxiliary ingredient satisfy a molar content condition of 0.40<(Tb/T_RE)*(Ba+Ca)<0.93, where T_RE is a total molar content of the rare earth elements in the first auxiliary ingredient.

A light-emitting ceramic that includes a pyrochlore type compound that contains 0.01 mol % or more of Bi with respect to 100 mol % of the general formula M1.sub.XM2.sub.YM3.sub.ZO.sub.W, wherein M1 is at least one of La, Y, Gd, Yb, and Lu, M2 is at least one of Zr, Sn, and Hf, M3 is at least one of Ta, Nb, and Sb, X, Y, Z, and W are positive numbers that maintain electrical neutrality, X+Y+Z=2.0, 0.005≤Z≤0.2, and 3X+4Y+5Z is 7.02 or less.