Provided is a solid oxide fuel cell having a service life of approximately 90,000 hours, a level required to encourage the widespread use of SOFC. The solid oxide fuel cell is provided with a solid electrolyte layer, an oxygen electrode layer provided on one side of the solid electrolyte layer, and a fuel electrode layer provided on the other side of the solid electrolyte layer. The oxygen electrode layer is made from a material containing iron or manganese, and the solid electrolyte layer contains an yttria-stabilized zirconia solid electrolyte material having a lanthanoid oxide dissolved therein.

There are provided: a sintered material having an excellent wear resistance even under a high speed cutting condition; a tool using the sintered material; and a method of producing the sintered material. The sintered material includes: a first particle group including a particle having a cubic rock-salt structure represented by Al.sub.(1-x)Cr.sub.xN (formula (1)) (where x satisfies 0.2≦x≦0.8); and a second particle group including a particle of at least one first compound selected from a group consisting of oxide and oxynitride of aluminum, zirconium, yttrium, magnesium, and hafnium.

The invention relates to a polycrystalline IR transparent material produced by sintering chalcogenide powder, e.g., ZnS powder, using hot uniaxial pressing followed by hot isostatic pressing. The microstructure of the material described in this disclosure is much finer than that found in material produced using the state of the art process. By using a powder with a particle size fine enough to improve sintering behavior but coarse enough to prevent a lowering of the wurtzite-sphalerite transition temperature, a highly transparent material with improved strength is created without degrading the optical properties. A high degree of transparency is achieved during hot pressing by applying pressure after the part has reached a desired temperature. This allows some degree of plastic deformation and prevents rapid grain growth which can entrap porosity. The crystallographic twins created during this process further inhibit grain growth during hot isostatic pressing.

Provided are metal oxide ceramic materials and intermediate materials thereof (e.g., nanozirconia gels, nanozirconia green bodies, pre-sintered ceramic bodies, zirconia dental ceramic materials, and dental articles). The nanozirconia gels are formable gels. Also provided are methods of making and using the metal oxide materials and intermediate materials. The nanozirconia gels can be made using, for example, osmotic processing. The nanozirconia gels can be used to make nanozirconia green bodies, pre-sintered ceramic bodies, zirconia dental ceramic materials, and dental article. The nanozirconia green bodies, pre-sintered ceramic bodies, zirconia dental ceramic materials, and dental articles have desirable properties (e.g., optical properties and mechanical properties).

A dielectric film containing an alkaline earth metal oxide having a NaCl type crystal structure as a main component, wherein the dielectric film has a (111)-oriented columnar structure in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the dielectric film, and in a Cu—Kα X-ray diffraction chart of the dielectric film, a half width of the diffraction peak of (111) is in a range of from 0.3° to 2.0°.

Provided is a zirconia sintered body that suppresses discoloration due to porcelain. The zirconia sintered body comprises at least one of a coloring agent A: erbium oxide and a coloring agent B: nickel oxide, and a composite oxide of zirconium and vanadium.

A method of producing barium titanate that includes making a slurry by dispersing barium titanate powder in a solvent such as ethanol. Then, in a high-pressure vessel, substituting supercritical fluid including carbon dioxide gas, for example, for the solvent in the slurry. Then, separating the barium titanate powder from the supercritical fluid by gasifying the supercritical fluid. Then, performing a heat treatment on the separated barium titanate powders to produce the barium titanate.

A ceramic waveguide includes: a doped metal oxide ceramic core layer; and at least one cladding layer comprising the metal oxide surrounding the core layer, such that the core layer includes an erbium dopant and at least one rare earth metal dopant being: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, or oxides thereof, or at least one non-rare earth metal dopant comprising zirconium or oxides thereof. Also included is a quantum memory including: at least one doped polycrystalline ceramic optical device with the ceramic waveguide and a method of fabricating the ceramic waveguide.

The present disclosure relates to an orthophosphate thermal barrier coating material with high coefficient of thermal expansion and a preparation method thereof. ReM.sub.3P.sub.3O.sub.12 series ceramics with an eulytite crystal structure are prepared by a high-temperature solid-phase reaction for the first time. The ReM.sub.3P.sub.3O.sub.12 ceramic belongs to a −43 m space group of a cubic crystal system, which not only has a higher melting point and excellent high-temperature phase stability, but also has a lower thermal conductivity and a suitable coefficient of thermal expansion. It can effectively alleviate the stress caused by the mismatch of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the base material and the ceramic layer, so as to meet the requirements of thermal insulation and high-temperature oxidation and corrosion resistance of the hot end parts in long-term service, which has application prospects in the field of thermal barrier coatings.

A silicon carbide porous body contains β-SiC particles, Si particles, and metal silicide particles. The maximum particle diameter of the β-SIC particles is not smaller than 15 μm. The content of the Si particles is not lower than 10 mass %. The maximum particle diameter of the Si particles is not larger than 40 μm. Further, an oxide coating film having a thickness not smaller than 0.01 μm and not larger than 5 μm is provided on surfaces of the Si particles.