Disclosed is a ceramic material having a formula of Li.sub.wA.sub.xM.sub.2Re.sub.3-yO.sub.z, wherein w is 5-7.5; wherein A is selected from B, Al, Ga, In, Zn, Cd, Y, Sc, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and any combination thereof; wherein x is 0-2; wherein M is selected from Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, Sn, Ge, Si, Sb, Se, Te, and any combination thereof; wherein Re is selected from lanthanide elements, actinide elements, and any combination thereof; wherein y is 0.01-0.75; wherein z is 10.875-13.125; and wherein the material has a garnet-type or garnet-like crystal structure. The ceramic garnet based material is ionically conducting and can be used as a solid state electrolyte for an electrochemical device such as a battery or supercapacitor.

A superconducting composition of matter including overlapping first and second regions. The regions comprise unit cells of a solid, the first region comprises an electrical insulator or semiconductor, and the second region comprises a metallic electrical conductor. The second region extends through the solid and a subset of said second region comprise surface metal unit cells that are adjacent to at least one unit cell from the first region. The ratio of the number of said surface metal unit cells to the total number of unit cells in the second region being at least 20 percent.

Enhanced Q high dielectric constant material for microwave applications. In some embodiments, a composition can include a material with a formula Ba.sub.4+xSm.sub.(2/3)(14x+0.5y)Ti.sub.18yAl.sub.yO.sub.54, with the quantity y being in a range 0<y<2, and the quantity x being in a range 0<x<2y. Such a material can have a dielectric constant value greater than 60 and a Qf value greater than 10,000 at a frequency (f) at or less than 1 GHz. In some embodiments, a material having such properties can be implemented as a ceramic device and be utilized as a dielectric microwave resonator. Such a microwave resonator can be utilized as, for example, a narrowband radio-frequency (RF) filter.

Articles and methods in which an electric field is used to actuate a material are generally described. Provided in one embodiment is a method including applying an electric field to a ceramic material. Applying the electric field to the ceramic material can transform the ceramic material from a first solid phase to a second distinct solid phase. The applied electric field is less than a breakdown electric field of the ceramic material, according to certain embodiments.

Coating systems on a surface of a CMC component, such as a CMC shroud, are provided. The coating system can include an environmental barrier coating on the surface of the CMC component and an abradable coating on the environmental barrier coating and defining an external surface opposite of the environmental barrier coating. The abradable coating includes a compound having the formula: Ln.sub.2ABO.sub.8, where Ln comprises scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, or mixtures thereof; A comprises Si, Ti, Ge, or a combination thereof; and B comprises Mo, W, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the abradable coating has a first coefficient of thermal expansion at an interface with the environmental barrier coating that changes to a second coefficient of thermal expansion at its external surface. Methods are also provided for applying an abradable coating onto a CMC component.

A hexagonal ferrite material includes a Y phase hexagonal ferrite material having the composition Sr.sub.2Co.sub.2Fe.sub.12O.sub.22 or Sr.sub.2-xNa.sub.xCo.sub.2-xSc.sub.xFe.sub.12O.sub.22, 0<x<2, doped with a trivalent element, a tetravalent element, and/or a transition metal.

Provided is at least one of a zirconia sintered body, a raw material powder for the zirconia sintered body, a calcined body and a method for producing the sintered body. The zirconia sintered body does not exhibit a color derived from ceria and exhibits high impact resistance. The sintered body comprises zirconia and germanium oxide, the zirconia containing a stabilizing element, wherein Y/X is 0.35 or greater, and X+Y is 4.0 or less, where X is an amount of the stabilizing element in the zirconia expressed in mol %, and Y is an amount of the germanium oxide in the zirconia expressed in mol %.

A piezoelectric ceramic composition is represented by a composition formula A.sub.xBO.sub.3 and includes potassium sodium niobate containing K and Na that account for 80% or more of an amount of A-site elements and containing Nb that accounts for 70% or more of an amount of B-site elements. The piezoelectric ceramic composition contains Ta and Fe at a B-site.

There is provided a platy Mg-containing zinc oxide sintered compact containing 1 to 10 wt % Mg as a first dopant element and 0.005 wt % or more at least one second dopant element selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In, the balance consisting essentially of ZnO and optionally at least one third dopant element selected from the group consisting of Br, CI, F, Sn, Y, Pr, Ge, B, Sc, Si, Ti, Zr, Hf, Mn, Ta, W, Cu, Ni, Cr, La, Gd, Bi, Ce, Sr and Ba, wherein the (002)-plane or (100)-plane orientation in the plate surface is 60% or more. The Mg-containing zinc oxide sintered compact of the present invention has excellent properties such as high orientation despite solid dissolution of Mg.

There is provided a platy zinc oxide sintered compact containing 0.80 wt % or less at least one first dopant element selected from the group consisting of Al, Ga and In, the balance consisting essentially of ZnO and optionally at least one second dopant element selected from the group consisting of Br, Cl, F, Sn, Y, Pr, Ge, B, Sc, Si, Ti, Zr, Hf, Mn, Ta, W, Cu, Ni, Cr, La, Gd, Bi, Ce, Sr and Ba, the second dopant element being optional component, wherein the (002)-plane orientation in the plate surface is 60% or more. The zinc oxide sintered compact of the present invention has excellent properties such as high orientation in addition to transparency and conductivity.