A hard material which, when used as a material of a sintered material, makes it possible to obtain a sintered material with excellent abrasion resistance, a sintered material, a cutting tool including the sintered material, a method for manufacturing the hard material and a method for manufacturing the sintered material are provided. The hard material contains aluminum, nitrogen, and at least one element selected from the group consisting of titanium, chromium, and silicon, and has a cubic rock salt structure.

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a thermoelectric material having high thermoelectric conversion performance in a broad temperature range. The method for manufacturing a thermoelectric material according to the present disclosure includes forming a mixture by weighing Cu and Se based on the following chemical formula 1 and mixing the Cu and the Se, and forming a compound by thermally treating the mixture: <Chemical Formula 1> Cu.sub.xSe where 2<x≦2.6.

The present disclosure discloses a ceramic material having a positive slow release effect and a method for manufacturing the same. The ceramic material comprises a hierarchically meso-macroporous structure which composition at least includes silicon and oxygen, wherein the hierarchically meso-macroporous structure includes a plurality of macropores and a wall having a plurality of arranged mesopores, and the plurality of macropores are separated by the wall; and nano-scale metal particles confined in at least one of the plurality of arranged mesopores. The nano-scale metal particles have a positive slow release effect from the at least one of the plurality of arranged mesopores. The ceramic material has a property of inhibiting growth of microorganisms or killing the microorganisms in an environment or a system containing a hydrophilic medium.

The object of this invention is a process for manufacturing, conditioning and stabilization of a family of base additives sodium, potassium, boron, silicon, zinc, calcium oxides, among others, prepared by physicochemical and chemical synthesis methods that form nanometric structures, reformulated with deflocculant, sequestrants and dispersants additives that allow to obtain a dispersion or powder capable to decrease the sintering temperature of a ceramic body due to the high fluxing power, which is maximized by the use of nanotechnology in the structures obtained. The process consists in the preparation of nucleation seeds of metal, silicates and carbonates oxides by means of a physicochemical process, and which allow nanometric structures to grow by means of a chemical process in a chemical synthesis process wet basis of sodium, boron, silicon, zinc, potassium and calcium oxides. The combination of these oxides allows structuring elements of high fluxing power due to their high surface area and physicochemical composition. The additives prepared in this invention are chemically stabilized with deflocculating agents, which allow the additives to be incorporated into the aqueous medium grinding process of the ceramic body. Applications made with the additives of this invention allow the sintering temperature of a red body to be reduced from 1150° C. to 1000° C. and in porcelain bodies from 1180° C. to 1050° C., with the use of 0.2 to 5% of the additive, or increasing the speed of the heat treatment by up to 20%, and it can be used in the manufacture of bathroom fittings, molding parts, components for tooling, coatings, valances, enamels, vitrified pastes and other ceramic components. The present invention proposes several nanostructured additive formulations with high performance fluxing properties, which allow to optimize and standardize the sintering process and to improve the mechanical properties of the ceramic body. It also proposes different methods of application of the additive in ceramic formulations.

A dielectric ceramic composition and a multilayer ceramic electronic component are provided, the dielectric ceramic composition includes a barium titanate base material main component and a subcomponent, a microstructure after sintering includes a first crystal grain including 3 or less domain boundaries and a second crystal grain including 4 or more domain boundaries, and an area ratio of the second crystal grain to the total crystal grains is 20% or less.

A pillar shaped honeycomb structure including pillar shaped honeycomb segments joined together via joining material layers, wherein each of the pillar shaped honeycomb segment includes: an outer peripheral wall; and a porous partition wall disposed on an inner side of the outer peripheral wall, the partition wall defining a plurality of cells, each of the cells extending from one end face to other end face to form a flow path, and wherein a metal member is embedded in each of the joining material layer.

A thermoelectric conversion material made of a sintered body containing a magnesium silicide as a major component includes: a magnesium silicide phase; and a magnesium oxide layer formed on a surface layer of the magnesium silicide phase, in which an aluminum concentrated layer having an Al concentration higher than an aluminum concentration in an inside of the magnesium silicide phase is formed between the magnesium oxide layer and the magnesium silicide phase, and the aluminum concentrated layer has a metallic aluminum phase including aluminum or an aluminum alloy.

A method of forming a water resistant boundary on a fissile material for use in a water cooled nuclear reactor is described. The method comprises mixing a powdered fissile material selected from the group consisting of UN and U.sub.3Si.sub.2 with an additive selected from oxidation resistant materials having a melting or softening point lower than the sintering temperature of the fissile material, pressing the mixed fissile and additive materials into a pellet, sintering the pellet to a temperature greater than the melting point of the additive. Alternatively, if the melting point of the oxidation resistant particles is greater than the sintering temperature of UN or U.sub.3Si.sub.2, then the oxidation resistant particles can have a particle size distribution less than that of the UN or U.sub.3Si.sub.2.

A cutting element comprises a supporting substrate, and a cutting table attached to an end of the supporting substrate. The cutting table comprises inter-bonded diamond particles, and a thermally stable material within interstitial spaces between the inter-bonded diamond particles. The thermally stable material comprises a carbide precipitate having the general chemical formula, A.sub.3XZ.sub.n-1, where A comprises one or more of Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, Hg, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Ac, Th, Pa, and U; X comprises one or more of Al, Ga, Sn, Be, Bi, Te, Sb, Se, As, Ge, Si, B, and P; Z comprises C; and n is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 0.75. A method of forming a cutting element, an earth-boring tool, a supporting substrate, and a method of forming a supporting substrate are also described.

A precursor of an alumina sintered compact including aluminum, yttrium, and at least one metal selected from iron, zinc, cobalt, manganese, copper, niobium, antimony, tungsten, silver, and gallium. The aluminum content is 98.0% by mass or more as an oxide (Al2O3) in 100% by mass of the precursor of an alumina sintered compact; the yttrium content is 0.01 to 1.35 parts by mass as an oxide (Y2O3) based on 100 parts by mass of the content of the aluminum as an oxide; the total content of the metals selected from the foregoing group is 0.02 to 1.55 parts by mass as an oxide based on 100 parts by mass of the content of aluminum as an oxide; and the aluminum is contained as α-alumina. Also disclosed is an alumina sintered compact, and a method for producing an alumina sintered compact and for producing abrasive grains.