The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a zirconia blank by introducing a zirconia suspension into a porous mould and demoulding the blank formed as well as the use of the optionally presintered blank formed for the preparation of a dental restoration using a very short dense-sintering process.

A process for manufacturing a thermoelectric material having a plurality of grains and grain boundaries. The process includes determining a material composition to be investigated for the thermoelectric material and then determining a range of values of grain size and/or grain boundary barrier height obtainable for the material composition using current state of the art manufacturing techniques. Thereafter, a range of figure of merit values for the material composition is determined as a function of the range of values of grain size and/or grain boundary barrier height. And finally, a thermoelectric material having the determined material composition and an average grain size and grain boundary barrier height corresponding to the maximum range of figure of merit values is manufactured.

A method of manufacturing ceramic tape includes a step of directing a tape of partially-sintered ceramic into a furnace. The tape is partially-sintered such that grains of the ceramic are fused to one another yet the tape still includes at least 10% porosity by volume, where the porosity refers to volume of the tape unoccupied by the ceramic. The method further includes steps of conveying the tape through the furnace and further sintering the tape as the tape is conveyed through the furnace. The porosity of the tape decreases during the further sintering step.

A corrosion-resistant member may include alumina ceramics containing -alumina and anorthite. The alumina ceramics may contain 0.4% by mass or more of Ca and Si in total in terms of CaO and SiO.sub.2, respectively, and a mass ratio of CaO/SiO.sub.2 may fall within a range of 0.5 to 2. Moreover, a ratio B/A of X-ray diffraction peak intensity B for (004) plane of the anorthite to X-ray diffraction peak intensity A for (104) plane of the -alumina in a surface of the alumina ceramics, may be 0.01 or more.

A zirconia ceramic body for use with dental prosthetics has an L* value between 10 and 20 for a sample thickness 011 to 1.3 mm in accordance with CIE L*a*b* colorimetric system. The zirconia ceramic body can have between 6-20 wt % or 7.20 wt % of yttria based on total weight percent of the zirconia ceramic body. The zirconia ceramic body is subsequently finally sinterable to produce a translucent zirconia sintered body. In one aspect, the sintered body has a total light transmittance of at least 36% and less than 50% to light with a wavelength of 400 nm, and less than 55% to light with a wavelength of 600 nm, at a thickness of 0.6 mm, measured using a LAMBDA 35 UV/VIS Spectrophotometer manufactured by Perkin Elmer.

A method for making a dielectric substrate configured for incorporation into a hermetically sealed feedthrough is described. The method includes forming a via hole through a green-state dielectric substrate. A platinum-containing paste is filled into at least 90% of the volume of the via hole. The green-state dielectric substrate is then subjected to a heating protocol including: a binder bake-out heating portion performed at a temperature ranging from about 400 C. to about 700 C. for a minimum of 4 hours; a sintering heating portion performed at a temperature ranging from about 1,400 C. to about 1,900 C. for up to 6 hours; and a cool down portion at a rate of up to 5/minute from a maximum sintering temperature down to about 1,000 C., then naturally to room temperature. The thusly manufacture dielectric substrate is then positioned in an opening in a ferrule that is configured to be attached to a metal housing of an active implantable medical device. The dielectric substrate is hermetically sealed to the ferrule with the sintered platinum material in the via hole providing a conductive pathway from a body fluid side to a device side of the ferrule.

A method of making a translucent colored zirconia dental restoration comprises obtaining a zirconia green body, forming a dental restoration precursor from the zirconia green body, applying a color liquid to the precursor, and sintering the restoration precursor with regular sintering in air without post HIP processing. The zirconia green body comprises between 7 wt % to 20 wt % of stabilizer based on a total weight percent of the zirconia green body, and at least some particles with a diameter of 100 nanometers to 1000 nanometers. The zirconia green body is subsequently finally sinterable with regular sintering in air without post HIP processing to produce a translucent zirconia sintered body having a total light transmittance of at least 36% and less than 50% to light with a wavelength of 400 nm, and less than 55% to light with a wavelength of 600 nm, at a thickness of 0.6 mm.

A method of making a translucent colored zirconia dental restoration comprises obtaining a zirconia green body, forming a dental restoration precursor from the zirconia green body, applying a color liquid to the precursor, and sintering the restoration precursor with regular sintering in air without post HIP processing. The zirconia green body comprises between 7 wt % to 20 wt % of stabilizer based on a total weight percent, and an L* value between 10 and 20 for a sample thickness of 1 to 1.3 mm. The zirconia green body is subsequently finally sinterable with regular sintering in air without post HIP processing to produce a translucent zirconia sintered body having a total light transmittance of at least 36% and less than 50% to light with a wavelength of 400 nm, and less than 55% to light with a wavelength of 600 nm, at a thickness of 0.6 mm.

The object of this invention is a process for manufacturing, conditioning and stabilization of a family of base additives sodium, potassium, boron, silicon, zinc, calcium oxides, among others, prepared by physicochemical and chemical synthesis methods that form nanometric structures, reformulated with deflocculant, sequestrants and dispersants additives that allow to obtain a dispersion or powder capable to decrease the sintering temperature of a ceramic body due to the high fluxing power, which is maximized by the use of nanotechnology in the structures obtained. The process consists in the preparation of nucleation seeds of metal, silicates and carbonates oxides by means of a physicochemical process, and which allow nanometric structures to grow by means of a chemical process in a chemical synthesis process wet basis of sodium, boron, silicon, zinc, potassium and calcium oxides. The combination of these oxides allows structuring elements of high fluxing power due to their high surface area and physicochemical composition. The additives prepared in this invention are chemically stabilized with deflocculating agents, which allow the additives to be incorporated into the aqueous medium grinding process of the ceramic body. Applications made with the additives of this invention allow the sintering temperature of a red body to be reduced from 1150 C. to 1000 C. and in porcelain bodies from 1180 C. to 1050 C., with the use of 0.2 to 5% of the additive, or increasing the speed of the heat treatment by up to 20%, and it can be used in the manufacture of bathroom fittings, molding parts, components for tooling, coatings, valances, enamels, vitrified pastes and other ceramic components. The present invention proposes several nanostructured additive formulations with high performance fluxing properties, which allow to optimize and standardize the sintering process and to improve the mechanical properties of the ceramic body. It also proposes different methods of application of the additive in ceramic formulations.

A ceramic slurry for forming a ceramic article includes a binder, a first plurality of ceramic particles having a first morphology, a second plurality of ceramic particles having a second morphology that is different from the first morphology; and a photoinitiator. A method for using this slurry for fabricating ceramic articles is presented as well.