A lead-free piezoelectric material includes perovskite-type metal oxide containing Na, Nb, Ba, Ti, and Mg and indicates excellent piezoelectric properties. The piezoelectric material satisfies the following relational expression (1): 0.430≤a≤0.460, 0.433≤b≤0.479, 0.040≤c≤0.070, 0.0125≤d≤0.0650, 0.0015≤e≤0.0092, 0.9×3e≤c−d≤1.1×3e, a+b+c+d+e=1, where a, b, c, d, and e denote the relative numbers of Na, Nb, Ba, Ti, and Mg atoms, respectively.

A grain-oriented M-type hexagonal ferrite has the formula MeFe.sub.12O.sub.19, and a dopant effective to provide planar magnetic anisotropy and magnetization in a c-plane, or a cone anisotropy, in the hexagonal crystallographic structure wherein Me is Sr.sup.+, Ba.sup.2+ or Pb.sup.2+, and wherein greater than 30%, preferably greater than 80%, of c-axes of the ferrite grains are aligned perpendicular to the c-plane.

Paste compositions for additive manufacturing and methods for the same are provided. The paste composition may include an organic vehicle, and one or more powders dispersed in the organic vehicle. The organic vehicle may include a solvent, a polymeric binder, a thixotropic additive, and a dispersant. The organic vehicle may be configured to provide the paste composition with a suitable viscosity. The organic vehicle may also be configured to provide a stable paste composition for a predetermined period of time.

A method for producing a ceramic composite includes: preparing a sintered body in a plate form containing a fluorescent material having a composition of a rare earth aluminate, and aluminum oxide; and eluting the aluminum oxide from the sintered body by contacting the sintered body with a basic substance, for example, contained in an alkali aqueous solution, and the dissolution amount of the fluorescent material eluted from the sintered body in the step of eluting the aluminum oxide is 0.5% by mass or less based on an amount of the fluorescent material contained in the sintered body as 100% by mass.

A dielectric composition includes main phases and Ca-RE-Si—O segregation phases. The main phases include a main component expressed by ABO.sub.3. “A” includes at least one selected from barium and calcium. “B” includes at least one selected from titanium and zirconium. “RE” represents at least one of rare earth elements. A molar ratio of (Si/Ca) is larger than one. A molar ratio of (Si/RE) is larger than one, provided that the molar ratio of (Si/RE) is a molar ratio of silicon included in the segregation phases to the rare earth elements included therein. An average length of major axes of the segregation phases is 1.30-2.80 times as large as an average particle size of the main phases. An average length of minor axes of the segregation phases is 0.21-0.48 times as large as an average particle size of the main phases.

Set forth herein are garnet material compositions, e.g., lithium-stuffed garnets and lithium-stuffed garnets doped with alumina, which are suitable for use as electrolytes and catholytes in solid state battery applications. Also set forth herein are lithium-stuffed garnet thin films having fine grains therein. Disclosed herein are novel and inventive methods of making and using lithium-stuffed garnets as catholytes, electrolytes and/or anolytes for all solid state lithium rechargeable batteries. Also disclosed herein are novel electrochemical devices which incorporate these garnet catholytes, electrolytes and/or anolytes. Also set forth herein are methods for preparing novel structures, including dense thin (<50 um) free standing membranes of an ionically conducting material for use as a catholyte, electrolyte, and, or, anolyte, in an electrochemical device, a battery component (positive or negative electrode materials), or a complete solid state electrochemical energy storage device. Also, the methods set forth herein disclose novel sintering techniques, e.g., for heating and/or field assisted (FAST) sintering, for solid state energy storage devices and the components thereof.

A method of producing a core-shell particle includes introducing a barium titanate-based base powder and an additive to a reactor, and exposing the barium titanate-based base powder and the additive to a thermal plasma torch to obtain core-shell particles including a core portion having barium titanate (BaTiO.sub.3) and a shell portion including the additive and formed on a surface of the core portion.

A process for manufacturing ceramic-metal composite material, comprises dissolving ceramic powder into water to obtain an aqueous solution of ceramic; mixing metal powder having a multimodal particle size where largest particle size is one fourth of the minimum dimension of a device, with the aqueous solution of ceramic to obtain a powder containing ceramic precipitated on the surface of metal particles; mixing the powder containing ceramic precipitated on the surface of the metal particles, with ceramic powder having a particle size below 50μ.Math.τ.Math., to obtain a powder mixture; adding saturated aqueous solution of ceramic to the powder mixture to obtain an aqueous composition containing ceramic and metal; compressing the aqueous composition to form a disc of ceramic-metal composite material containing ceramic and metal; and removing water from the ceramic-metal composite material; wherein ceramic content of the disc is 10 vol-% to 35 vol-%. Alternatively, ceramic-ceramic composite material may be manufactured.

A method of producing polycrystalline Y.sub.3Ba.sub.5Cu.sub.8O.sub.y (Y-358) whereby powders of yttrium (III) oxide, a barium (II) salt, and copper (II) oxide are pelletized, calcined at 850 to 950° C. for 8 to 16 hours, ball milled under controlled conditions, pelletized again and sintered in an oxygen atmosphere at 900 to 1000° C. for up to 72 hours. The polycrystalline Y.sub.3Ba.sub.5Cu.sub.8O.sub.y thus produced is in the form of elongated crystals having an average length of 2 to 10 μm and an average width of 1 to 2 μm, and embedded with spherical nanoparticles of yttrium deficient Y.sub.3Ba.sub.5Cu.sub.8O.sub.y having an average diameter of 5 to 20 nm. The spherical nanoparticles are present as agglomerates having flower-like morphology with an average particles size of 30 to 60 nm. The ball milled polycrystalline Y.sub.3Ba.sub.5Cu.sub.8O.sub.y prepared under controlled conditions shows significant enhancement of superconducting and flux pinning properties.

The ceramic material element includes a main phase of orthorhombic perovskite-structure and a secondary phase due to a heat treatment within 700° C. to 850° C. for a first period followed by a second period within 1140° C. to 1170° C., from a mixture of materials A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 excluding lead, the materials A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 having molar ratios R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5, respectively, where the material A1 comprises potassium, the material A2 comprises sodium, the material A3 comprises barium, the material A4 comprises niobium, and the material A5 comprises nickel, and the molar ratio R1 is in a range 0.29-0.32, the molar ratio R2 is in a range 0.20-0.23, the molecular ratio R3 is in a range 0.01-0.02, the molar ratio R4 is in a range 0.54-0.55, and the molar ratio R5 is in a range 0.006-0.011, while a relative ratio of R1/R2 is in the range 1.24-1.52, and a relative ratio of R4/R2 is in the range 2.32-2.62. The ceramic material element converts optical radiation energy and mechanical vibration energy into electric energy.