A ceramic body being configured of mainly BaTiO.sub.3-based crystalline particles in which a part of Ba is substituted with at least one rare earth element, wherein the ceramic body contains Ba.sub.6Ti.sub.17O.sub.40 crystalline particles of from 1.0 to 10.0% by mass.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a solid solution ceramic material having increased electromechanical strain, as well as ceramic materials obtainable therefrom and uses thereof. In one aspect, the present invention provides a method A method of increasing electromechanical strain in a solid solution ceramic material which exhibits an electric field induced strain derived from a reversible transition from a non-polar state to a polar state; i) determining a molar ratio of at least one polar perovskite compound having a polar crystallographic point group to at least one non-polar perovskite compound having a non-polar crystallographic point group which, when combined to form a solid solution, forms a ceramic material with a major portion of a non-polar state; ii) determining the maximum polarization, P.sub.max, remanent polarisation, P.sub.r, and the difference, P.sub.max−P.sub.r, for the solid solution formed in step i); and either: iii)a) modifying the molar ratio determined in step i) to form a different solid solution of the same perovskite compounds which exhibits an electric field induced strain and which has a greater difference, P.sub.max−P.sub.r, between maximum polarization, P.sub.max, and remanent polarisation, P.sub.r, than for the solid solution from step i), or; iii)b) adjusting the processing conditions used for preparing the solid solution formed in step i) to increase the difference, P.sub.max−P.sub.r, in maximum polarization, P.sub.max, and remanent polarisation, P.sub.r, of the solid solution.

A sintered oxide includes an In.sub.2O.sub.3 crystal, and a crystal A whose diffraction peak is in an incidence angle (2θ) range defined by (A) to (F) below as measured by X-ray (Cu-K α ray) diffraction measurement: 31.0 to 34.0 degrees . . . (A); 36.0 to 39.0 degrees . . . (B); 50.0 to 54.0 degrees . . . (C); 53.0 to 57.0 degrees . . . (D); 9.0 to 11.0 degrees . . . (E); and 19.0 to 21.0 degrees . . . (F).

A method is described to make a metal-containing non-amorphous hard-carbon composite material that is synthesized from furan-ring containing compounds. The metals described in the process include lithium and transition metals, including transition metal oxides like lithium titanates. The non-amorphous hard-carbon component of the metal-containing non-amorphous hard-carbon composite material is characterized by a d.sub.002 peak—in the X-ray diffraction patterns—that corresponds to an interlayer spacing of >3.6 Å, along with a prominent D-band peak in the Raman spectra. These metal-containing hard-carbon composites are used for constructing electrodes for Li-ion batteries and Li-ion capacitors.

The present disclosure discloses a rare earth tantalate ceramic resisting corrosion of a low melting point oxide. A general chemical formula of the ceramic is RETaO.sub.4. A method for preparing the ceramic includes: weighing RE.sub.2O.sub.3 powder and Ta.sub.2O.sub.5 powder and adding to a solvent to mix, and ball milling the mixed solution with a ball mill to obtain powder A; drying the powder A, and sieving the powder A for a first time to obtain powder B; placing the powder B in a mold for compaction, pre-sintering the powder B to form a block C, cooling the block C to room temperature, grounding the block C with a grinder, and sieving the block C for a second time to obtain powder D; and sintering the powder D to obtain the rare earth tantalate ceramic. The ceramic has high density and strong corrosion resistance to low melting point oxides.

An oxide sintered body includes a bixbyite phase represented by In.sub.2O.sub.3, and a garnet phase represented by Y.sub.3In.sub.2Ga.sub.3O.sub.12.

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 compound includes indium element (In), gallium element (Ga), aluminum element (Al) and oxygen element (O), the compound having a triclinic crystal system with lattice constants being a=10.07±0.15 Å, b=10.45±0.15 Å, c=11.01±0.15 Å, α=111.70±0.50°, β=107.70±0.50° and γ=90.00±0.50°.

The composite sintered body includes AlN and MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4. The open porosity of the composite sintered body is lower than 0.1%. The relative density of the composite sintered body is not lower than 99.5%. The total percentage of the AlN and the MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 contained in the composite sintered body is not lower than 95 weight percentage and not higher than 100 weight percentage. The percentage of the MgAl.sub.2O.sub.4 contained in the composite sintered body is not lower than 15 weight percentage and not higher than 70 weight percentage. It is thereby possible to provide a high-density composite sintered body having high plasma corrosion resistance, high volume resistivity, and high thermal conductivity.

Disclosed is a composition having nanoparticles or particles of a refractory metal, a refractory metal hydride, a refractory metal carbide, a refractory metal nitride, or a refractory metal boride, an organic compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen, and a nitrogenous compound consisting of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen. The composition, optionally containing the nitrogenous compound, is milled, cured to form a thermoset, compacted into a geometric shape, and heated in a nitrogen atmosphere at a temperature that forms a nanoparticle composition comprising nanoparticles of metal nitride and optionally metal carbide. The nanoparticles have a uniform distribution of the nitride or carbide.