An antimicrobial medical device that includes a substrate having a metal surface that is made from a metal or metal alloy that may include stainless steel, cobalt, and titanium. Disposed on the metal surface is a first antimicrobial oxide layer that includes an antimicrobial metal that may include silver, copper, and zinc, and combinations thereof. The atoms of antimicrobial metal in the first antimicrobial oxide layer are of a first concentration. The first antimicrobial oxide layer is positioned in a direction opposite that of the metal surface. The device further includes a second antimicrobial oxide layer that includes an antimicrobial metal that may be silver, copper, and zinc, and combinations thereof. The atoms of the antimicrobial metal present in the second antimicrobial oxide layer are of a second concentration. The first concentration and the second concentration are not equal. Methods for making the antimicrobial medical device are also disclosed.

A magnesium-based thermoelectric conversion material made of a sintered compact of a magnesium compound, in which, in a cross section of the sintered compact, a Si-rich metallic phase having a higher Si concentration than in magnesium compound grains is unevenly distributed in a crystal grain boundary between the magnesium compound grains, an area ratio of the Si-rich metallic phase is in a range of 2.5% or more and 10% or less, and a number density of the Si-rich metallic phase having an area of 1 m.sup.2 or more is in a range of 1,800/mm.sup.2 or more and 14,000 /mm.sup.2 or less.

The invention relates to a pre-impregnated fibre-reinforced composite material in laminar form, obtained impregnating a fibrous mass with a polymeric binder composition and intended to be subjected to successive forming and pyrolysis operations to produce a fibre-reinforced composite ceramic material. The polymeric binder composition is based on one or more resins chosen from the group consisting of siloxane resins and silsesquioxane resins, and can optionally comprise one or more organic resins. The polymeric binder composition is a liquid with viscosity between 55000 and 10000 mPas at temperatures between 50 C. and 70 C. The polymeric binder composition forms a polymeric binding matrix, not cross-linked or only partially cross-linked that fills the interstices of the fibrous mass. The invention also relates to a method for making said pre-impregnated fibre-reinforced composite material in laminar form. The invention further relates to a fibre-reinforced composite ceramic material, obtained by forming and subsequent pyrolysis of a pre-impregnated fibre-reinforced composite material, as well as a method for making said material.

A process for manufacturing ceramic-metal composite material, comprises dissolving ceramic powder into water to obtain an aqueous solution of ceramic; mixing metal powder having a multimodal particle size where largest particle size is one fourth of the minimum dimension of a device, with the aqueous solution of ceramic to obtain a powder containing ceramic precipitated on the surface of metal particles; mixing the powder containing ceramic precipitated on the surface of the metal particles, with ceramic powder having a particle size below 50 m, to obtain a powder mixture; adding saturated aqueous solution of ceramic to the powder mixture to obtain an aqueous composition containing ceramic and metal; compressing the aqueous composition to form a disc of ceramic-metal composite material containing ceramic and metal; and removing water from the ceramic-metal composite material; wherein ceramic content of the disc is 10 vol-% to 35 vol-%. Alternatively, ceramic-ceramic composite material may be manufactured.

The present disclosure provides a method for producing beta-tricalcium phosphate spherical particles containing magnetic ions. The method includes mixing acidic amino acid monomers, metal salt of magnetic ions and metal salt of calcium ions in de-ionized water to form a first solution; dissolve phosphate in de-ionized water to form a second solution; mixing the first and second solutions to form a third solution; and performing hydrothermal synthesis of the third solution.

The invention relates to uniformed concrete comprising, in percentages by weight, (d) 87% to 98% of particles comprising more than 90 wt.-% alumina, (c) 1% to 7% silica fume particles, (f) 1% to 8% particles of a hydraulic cement, the fraction of said particles having a size less than 40 m being distributed as follows, in percentage by weight in relation to the weight of the unformed concrete: fraction <0.5 m: 4%, fraction <2 m: 5%, fraction <10 m: 19%, fraction <40 m: 34%-52%, fraction between 2 m and 40 m: 26.5%-34%,
the concentration of Zro2, in percentage by weight on the basis of the uniformed concrete, being less than 2%, and the concentration of organic fibres, in percentage by weight on the basis of the uniformed concrete, being less than or equal to 0.03%.

A method of making a ceramic composite comprises forming a wet ceramic composition comprising a plurality of discrete ceramic components and a fluxing agent dissolved in a solvent. At least a portion of the solvent is removed from the wet ceramic composition to form a dried ceramic composition comprising the plurality of discrete ceramic components coated with the fluxing agent. The dried ceramic composition is sintered to form the ceramic composite, the sintering being carried out at a sinter temperature sufficient to fuse the discrete ceramic components at bridging sites formed where two or more of the discrete ceramic components coated with fluxing agent are in physical contact.

A refractory composition including refractory aggregate, one or more matrix components, and silicate-coated set accelerator particles. The silicate-coated set accelerator particles can include one more of silicate-coated calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, calcium chloride, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate and calcium sulfate. Suitable silicate coatings include sodium silicate, potassium silicate, lithium silicate and mixtures thereof. A method of recovering an aged refractory composition, a settable composition and a method of manufacturing silicate-coated calcium hydroxide particles are also provided.

Setter plates are fabricated from Li-stuffed garnet materials having the same, or substantially similar, compositions as a garnet Li-stuffed solid electrolyte. The Li-stuffed garnet setter plates, set forth herein, reduce the evaporation of Li during a sintering treatment step and/or reduce the loss of Li caused by diffusion out of the sintering electrolyte. Li-stuffed garnet setter plates, set forth herein, maintain compositional control over the solid electrolyte during sintering when, upon heating, lithium is prone to diffuse out of the solid electrolyte.

A method for preparing electrolyte material having a NASICON structure, based on a Na.sub.3+xSc.sub.xZr.sub.2x(SiO.sub.4).sub.2(PO.sub.4) compound where 0x<2. The method includes providing an acidic, aqueous solution which, according to a desired stoichiometry, comprises sodium, scandium and zirconium in the form of water-soluble nitrates, acetates or carbonates, and soluble silicates or orthosilicic acids or organic silicon compounds in dissolved form; subsequently adding phosphoric acid or ammonium dihydrogenphosphate or other soluble phosphates, according to the desired stoichiometry, complex zirconium dioxide phosphates forming as colloidal precipitations; and subsequently drying and calcining the mixture.