A method for manufacturing a honeycomb structure includes a tubular circumferential wall and partition walls forming a honeycomb-shaped cross-section and defining a plurality of cells extending inside the circumferential wall in the axial direction of the circumferential wall. The method includes a molding process, a degreasing process, and an impregnation process. The molding process molds a mixture including ceramic particles, an organic binder, and a dispersion medium to obtain a molded body. The degreasing process removes the organic binder included in the molded body to obtain a degreased body. The impregnation process impregnates the inside of the circumferential wall and the partition walls of the degreased body with metal silicon. The impregnation process is performed under an inert gas atmosphere or a vacuum at a temperature between 1400 C. and 1900 C.

Methods of producing a ceramic article include heating the ceramic green body containing a quantity of one or more organic materials to extract only a fraction of the organic materials from the ceramic green body by exposing the ceramic green body to a process atmosphere which is heated to a hold temperature of from 225 C. to about 400 C. and has from 2% to 7% O.sub.2 by volume of the process atmosphere. The method further includes cooling the ceramic green body to a temperature of below 200 C., exposing the ceramic green body to a higher concentration of O.sub.2 than in the process atmosphere of the heating step, and firing the ceramic green body to form the ceramic article. Volatile extraction units for implementing the methods are also described.

A dielectric porcelain composition having a main component a perovskite compound represented by ABO.sub.3, and the perovskite compound at least contains Ti and a volatile element which forms a solid solution at a B site, and may also contain Zr. The dielectric porcelain composition contains the volatile element in an amount larger than 0 part by mol and less than or equal to 0.2 part by mol with respect to 100 parts by mol of a total of the Ti and the Zr, and has a ratio of an A-site element to the total of the Ti and the Zr of 1.00 or more and 1.04 or less as a molar ratio.

A light-emitting ceramic that includes a pyrochlore type compound that contains 0.01 mol % or more of Bi with respect to 100 mol % of the general formula M1.sub.xM2.sub.yM3.sub.zO.sub.w, wherein M1 is at least one of La, Y, Gd, Yb, and Lu, M2 is at least one of Zr, Sn, and Hf, M3 is at least one of Ta, Nb, and Sb, X, Y, Z, and W are positive numbers that maintain electrical neutrality, X+Y+Z=2.0, 0.005Z0.2, and 3X+4Y+5Z is 7.02 or less.

The present invention provides a lead-free piezoelectric material having a high piezoelectric constant over a wide operating temperature region. Therefore, the present invention relates to a piezoelectric material including a perovskite-type metal oxide represented by general formula (1) below as a main component, wherein the average valence, of Sn contained in the general formula (1) lies between 2 and 4.
(Ba.sub.vCa.sub.wSn.sub.xTi.sub.yZr.sub.z)O.sub.3 (where 0.620v0.970,0.010w0.200,0.030x0.230,0.865y0.990,0z0.085, and 1.986v+w+x+y+z2.100)General Formula (1)

The present invention provides a method of producing a honeycomb structured body having excellent mechanical strength. The present invention relates to a method of producing a honeycomb structured body including a honeycomb fired body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween, the method including: a raw material mixing step of preparing a raw material paste containing ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles, alumina particles, an inorganic binder, and alumina fibers; a molding step of molding the raw material paste into a honeycomb molded body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween; a drying step of drying the honeycomb molded body obtained in the molding step; and a firing step of firing the honeycomb molded body dried in the drying step into a honeycomb fired body, wherein the percentage of amorphous alumina fibers in the alumina fibers for use in the raw material mixing step is 50 to 100 wt %.

The present invention provides a method of producing a honeycomb structured body having excellent mechanical strength. The present invention relates to a method of producing a honeycomb structured body including a honeycomb fired body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween, the method including: a raw material mixing step of preparing a raw material paste containing ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles, alumina particles, an inorganic binder, and inorganic fibers; a molding step of molding the raw material paste into a honeycomb molded body in which multiple through-holes are arranged longitudinally in parallel with one another with a partition wall therebetween; a drying step of drying the honeycomb molded body obtained in the molding step; and a firing step of firing the honeycomb molded body dried in the drying step into a honeycomb fired body, wherein the raw material mixing step includes pre-mixing of the inorganic binder and the inorganic fibers.

A glass-ceramic-ferrite composition contains glass, a ceramic filler, and NiZnCu ferrite. The glass contains about 0.5% by weight or more of R.sub.2O, where R is at least one selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, and K; about 5.0% by weight or less of Al.sub.2O.sub.3; about 10.0% by weight or more of B.sub.2O.sub.3; and about 85.0% by weight or less of SiO.sub.2 on the basis of the weight of the glass. The NiZnCu ferrite accounts for about 58% to 64% by weight of the glass-ceramic-ferrite composition. The ceramic filler contains quartz and, in some cases, forsterite. The quartz accounts for about 4% to 13% by weight of the glass-ceramic-ferrite composition. The forsterite accounts for about 6% by weight or less of the glass-ceramic-ferrite composition.

A ceramic article includes a ceramic matrix composite that has a porous reinforcement structure and a ceramic matrix within pores of the porous reinforcement structure. The ceramic matrix composite includes a surface zone and a glaze material within pores of the surface zone and on an exterior side of the surface zone as an exterior glaze layer.

The object of the present invention is to provide a multilayer ceramic electronic component having improved highly accelerated lifetime and specific permittivity. A multilayer ceramic electronic component comprising a multilayer body in which an internal electrode layer and a dielectric layer are stacked in alternating manner, wherein the dielectric layer comprises a dielectric ceramic composition having a main component expressed by a general formula ABO.sub.3 (A is Ba and the like, and B is Ti and the like) and a rare earth component R, a segregation phase including the rare earth component R exists in the dielectric layer, an area ratio of the segregation phases in a cross section along a stacking direction is 104 ppm to 961 ppm, and 96% or more of a total area of the segregation phases contact with the internal electrode layer.