A highly oriented nanometer MAX phase ceramic and a preparation method for a MAX phase in-situ autogenous oxide nanocomposite ceramic. The raw materials comprise a MAX phase ceramic nano-lamellar powder body or a blank body formed by the nano-lamellar powder body, wherein MAX phase ceramic nano-lamellar particles in the powder body or the blank meet the particle size being between 20-400 nm, and the oxygen content is between 0.0001%-20% by mass; MAX phase grains in the ceramic obtained after the raw materials are sintered are lamellar or spindle-shaped, the lamellar structure having a high degree of orientation. Utilizing special properties of the nano-lamellar MAX powder body, orientation occurs during compression and deformation to obtain a lamellar structure similar to that in a natural pearl shell, and such a structure has a high bearing capacity and resistance to external loads and crack propagation, just like a brick used in a building.

A method of fabricating a carbon-carbon composite includes mixing a carbon-based matrix precursor with a carbon nanomaterial additive forming a polymeric matrix impregnated with the carbon nanomaterial additive, heating the impregnated polymeric matrix under an inert atmosphere, with temperatures ranging between 350-1100° C. for carbonization followed by graphitization at a temperature greater than 1800° C. The matrix precursor may be a graphitizing or non-graphitizing material. The additive may present basal or edge site carbon atoms or a combination of both. As a result, a carbon-carbon composite composed of the matrix and additive is formed by templating or bond formation, wherein at least 1-D nano-scale or micro-scale structural changes begins at the interface between the matrix and additive and propagates outward from the interface into the matrix, thus adjusting or altering the nano- or micro-structures in the matrix that would not naturally occur in the absence of the additive.

Embodiments disclosed herein are related to polycrystalline textured materials exhibiting heterogeneous templated grain growth, methods of forming such materials, and related systems. An example of a method of forming a polycrystalline textured material exhibiting heterogeneous templated grain growth includes providing a plurality of seeds. The method also includes aligning at least some of the plurality of seeds (e.g., single-crystal seeds) so that a selected crystallographic orientation of at least some of the plurality of seeds are substantially aligned with each other. Additionally, the method includes positioning the plurality of seeds in a powder matrix. The method then includes pressing the plurality of seeds and the powdered matrix to form a green body. Further, the method includes sintering the green body at a temperature that is sufficient to grow a plurality of grains from corresponding ones of the plurality of seeds to form the polycrystalline textured material.

Aluminum nitride particles used as a material of an aluminum nitride sintered compact are disclosed. The aluminum nitride particles may have a same crystal orientation. The aluminum nitride particles each have an aspect ratio of 3 or more, a plate-like shape, a planar length of 0.6 μm or more and 20 μm or less, and a thickness length of 0.05 μm or more and 2 μm or less.

A method of producing a graphite-containing refractory within which carbon fiber bundles are placed, the graphite constituting 1% to 80% by mass, the method including a bundling step of bundling carbon fibers to form the carbon fiber bundles; a mixing step of mixing a refractory raw material with graphite to prepare a graphite-containing refractory raw material; a pressing step of pressing the graphite-containing refractory raw material in which the carbon fiber bundles are placed to prepare a formed product; and a drying step of drying the pressed product, wherein the bundling step includes bundling 1000 to 300000 of the carbon fibers with a fiber diameter of 1 to 45 μm/fiber to form carbon fiber bundles 100 mm or more in length.

Provided is a process for producing a graphene-based supercapacitor electrode from a supply of coke or coal powder, comprising: (a) exposing this powder to a supercritical fluid for a period of time in a pressure vessel to enable penetration of the supercritical fluid into internal structure of the coke or coal; wherein the powder is selected from petroleum coke, coal-derived coke, meso-phase coke, synthetic coke, leonardite, anthracite, lignite coal, bituminous coal, or natural coal mineral powder, or a combination thereof; (b) rapidly depressurizing the supercritical fluid at a fluid release rate sufficient for effecting exfoliation and separation of the coke or coal powder to produce isolated graphene sheets, which are dispersed in a liquid medium to produce a graphene suspension; and (c) shaping and drying the graphene suspension to form the supercapacitor electrode having a specific surface area greater than 200 m.sup.2/g.

PDC resins are mixed with various sources of carbon to form electrodes through pyrolysis of the mixture of PDC resins and coal dust derived materials with or without other sources of carbon, substrates and the like. For example, a PDC resin-coal dust mixture produces a material for use as an anode in lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors when pyrolyzed to form a porous, electrically conductive ceramic composite.

A magnetizable abrasive particle comprises a ceramic body having an outer surface and a magnetizable layer disposed on a portion, but not the entirety, of the outer surface. The ceramic body comprises a platelet having two opposed major facets connected to each other by a plurality of side facets. The magnetizable layer completely covers one of the two opposed major facets, and the magnetizable layer has a magnetic dipole oriented perpendicular or parallel to the facet which it completely covers. A plurality of the magnetizable abrasive particles, and abrasive articles including them are also disclosed. Methods of making the foregoing are also disclosed.

In a first step of a method for producing a transparent AlN sintered body, first, a formed body is prepared by forming a mixture obtained by mixing a sintering aid with an AlN raw-material powder containing a plate-like AlN powder whose plate surface is a c-plane and which has an aspect ratio of 3 or more. At this time, the mixture is formed such that the plate surface of the plate-like AlN powder is disposed along a surface of the formed body. In a second step, an oriented AlN sintered body is obtained by subjecting the formed body to hot-press sintering in a non-oxidizing atmosphere while applying a pressure to the surface of the formed body. In a third step, a transparent AlN sintered body is obtained by sintering the oriented AlN sintered body at normal pressure in a non-oxidizing atmosphere to remove a component derived from the sintering aid.

A ceramic precursor mixtures for extrusion and firing into porous ceramics. The ceramic precursor mixtures include ceramic beads and green inorganic shear binder agglomerates. The green inorganic shear binder agglomerates can include inorganic filler particles and a polymeric binder. The green inorganic shear binder agglomerates can deform under an applied shear stress during mixing and/or extrusion such that they are smeared into a plurality of interbead gaps between adjacent ceramic beads or pore former particles. During firing, the smeared green inorganic shear binder agglomerates can sinter and react to form ribbons extending between, and interconnecting adjacent ceramic beads.