The present invention relates to a kit of parts comprising a dental mill blank comprising a porous zirconia material and a colouring solution for colouring the porous zirconia material. The porous zirconia material comprises Zr oxide calculated as ZrO2: from 80 to 97 wt.-%, Al oxide calculated as Al2O3: from 0 to 0.15 wt.-%, Y oxide calculated as Y2O3: from 1 to 10 wt.-%, Bi oxide calculated as Bi2O3: from 0.01 to 0.2 wt.-%, the porous zirconia material not comprising Fe calculated as Fe2O3 in an amount of more than 0.01 wt.-%, wt.-% with respect to the weight of the porous zirconia material. The colouring solution comprises solvent(s), colouring agent(s) comprising metal ions selected from Tb, Er, Pr, Mn or combinations thereof, the solution not comprising Fe ions in an amount of more than 0.01 wt.-%, the solution not comprising Bi ions in an amount of more than 0.01 wt.-%, wt.-% with respect to the weight of the colouring solution. The invention also relates to a process of producing a dental restoration, the process comprising the steps: providing a dental mill blank comprising a porous zirconia material as described in any of the preceding claims, machining an article out of the porous zirconia material, the article having the shape of a dental restoration with an outer and inner surface, providing a colouring solution as described in any of the preceding claims, applying the colouring solution to at least portions of the surface of the article having the shape of a dental restoration.

The invention relates to a process for metallizing ferrite ceramics, which comprises the following steps: arrangement of a contact element composed of copper or a copper alloy on a surface of the ferrite ceramic, melting of the contact element at least in the region in which the contact element contacts the surface of the ferrite ceramic, and cooling of the contact element and the ferrite ceramic to below the melting point of copper or the copper alloy.

A ceramic substrate and a method for production thereof are provided, in which the ceramic substrate includes a composite of : a first ceramic layer including Sr anorthite and Al.sub.2O.sub.3 or an oxide dielectric with a dielectric constant higher than that of Al.sub.2O.sub.3; and a second ceramic layer including Sr anorthite and cordierite and having a dielectric constant lower than that of the first ceramic layer.

Textured ceramic compositions having improved piezoelectric characteristics as compared with their random counterparts are provided. Methods of making the compositions and devices using them are also included. More particularly, compositions comprising textured ceramic Na.sub.0.5Bi.sub.0.5TiO.sub.3—BaTiO.sub.3(NBT-BT) materials synthesized from high aspect ratio NBT seeds exhibit improved characteristics, including an increased longitudinal piezoelectric constant (d.sub.33) and magnetoelectric coupling coefficient over randomly oriented NBT-BT. Additionally provided are compositions comprising of nanostructured Na.sub.0.5B.sub.0.5TiO.sub.3—BaTiO.sub.3 ferroelectric whiskers having a high aspect ratio. Nanostructured whiskers can be used to improve the piezoelectric properties of the bulk ceramics. The inventive materials are useful in microelectronic devices, with some finding particular application as multilayer actuators and transducers.

Disclosed are embodiments of synthetic garnet materials for use in radiofrequency applications. In some embodiments, increased amounts of bismuth can be added into specific sites in the crystal structure of the synthetic garnet in order to boost certain properties, such as the dielectric constant and magnetization. Accordingly, embodiments of the disclosed materials can be used in high frequency applications, such as in base station antennas.

The present invention is a piezoelectric composition and a piezoelectric element using the piezoelectric composition, the composition being characterized by: having a Perovskite structure represented by general formula ABO3; being represented by composition formula x(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3-yBi(Mg0.5Ti0.5)O3-zBiFeO3, x+y+z=1 in the composition formula above; and in a triangular coordinate using x, y and z in the composition formula above, having a composition represented by a region which is surrounded by a pentagon ABCDE with apexes of point A (1, 0, 0), point B (0.7, 0.3, 0), point C (0.1, 0.3, 0.6), point D (0.1, 0.1, 0.8) and point E (0.2, 0, 0.8) and which does not include the line segment AE that connects point A (1, 0, 0) and point E (0.2, 0, 0.8).

A manganese oxide contains M1, optionally M2, Mn and O. M1 is selected from the group consisting of In, Sc, Y, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu. M2 is different from M1, and M2 is selected from the group consisting of Bi, In, Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu. These ceramic materials are hexagonal in structure, and provide superior materials for gas separation and oxygen storage.

Provided is a lead-free piezoelectric material having satisfactory piezoelectric constant and mechanical quality factor in a device driving temperature range (−30° C. to 50° C.) The piezoelectric material includes a main component containing a perovskite-type metal oxide represented by Formula 1, a first auxiliary component composed of Mn, and a second auxiliary component composed of Bi or Bi and Li. The content of Mn is 0.040 parts by weight or more and 0.500 parts by weight or less based on 100 parts by weight of the metal oxide on a metal basis. The content of Bi is 0.042 parts by weight or more and 0.850 parts by weight or less and the content of Li is 0.028 parts by weight or less (including 0 parts by weight) based on 100 parts by weight of the metal oxide on a metal basis. (Ba.sub.1-xCa.sub.x).sub.a(Ti.sub.1-yZr.sub.y)O.sub.3 . . . (1), wherein, 0.030≦x<0.090, 0.030≦y≦0.080, and 0.9860≦a≦1.0200.

A bismuth and magnesium co-doped lithium niobate crystal includes Li.sub.2CO.sub.3, Nb.sub.2O.sub.5, Bi.sub.2O.sub.3 and MgO, wherein the molar ratio of [Li] and [Nb] is 0.90-1.00, the molar percentage of Bi.sub.2O.sub.3 in the mixture is 0.25-0.80%, and the molar percentage of MgO in the mixture is 3.0-7.0%. The bismuth and magnesium co-doped lithium niobate crystal has enhanced photorefraction, improved photorefractive sensitivity, shortened holographic grating saturation writing time, and the photorefractive diffraction efficiency can reach up to 17%. The response time is only 170 ms, when the holographic storage experiment is carried out using 488 nm continuous laser. Therefore, this crystal can be used in the field of holographic imaging.

The invention relates to a coloured zirconia ceramic dental mill blank having fluorescing properties, processes of production such a mill blank and uses thereof, in particular for producing zirconia ceramic dental restorations.

The dental mill blank having a shape allowing the dental mill blank to be attached or fixed to a machining device, the dental mill blank comprising a porous zirconia material, the porous zirconia material comprising the oxides Zr oxide calculated as ZrO.sub.2: from about 80 to about 97 wt.-%, Al oxide calculated as Al.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0 to about 0.15 wt.-%, Y oxide calculated as Y.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 1 to about 10 wt.-%, Bi oxide calculated as Bi.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0.01 to about 0.20 wt.-%, Tb oxide calculated as Tb.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0.01 to about 0.8 wt.-%, and optionally one or two of the following oxides: Er oxide calculated as Er.sub.2O.sub.3: from about 0.01 to about 3.0 wt.-%, Mn oxide calculated as MnO.sub.2: from about 0.0001 to about 0.08 wt.-%, wt.-% with respect to the weight of the porous zirconia material.