A cubic boron nitride sintered material includes: 20 to 80 volume % of cBN grains; and 20 to 80 volume % of a binder phase, wherein the binder phase includes first binder grains and second binder grains, in each of the first binder grains, a ratio of the number of atoms of the first metal element to a total of the number of atoms of the titanium and the first metal element is more than or equal to 0.01% and less than 10%, in each of the second binder grains, the ratio is more than or equal to 10% and less than or equal to 80%, and an average grain size of the second binder grains is more than or equal to 0.2 μm and less than or equal to 1 μm.

A cubic boron nitride sintered material includes: 20 to 80 volume % of cBN grains; and 20 to 80 volume % of a binder phase, wherein the binder phase includes first binder grains and second binder grains, in each of the first binder grains, a ratio of the number of atoms of the first metal element to a total of the number of atoms of the titanium and the number of atoms of the first metal element is more than or equal to 0.01% and less than 10%, in each of the second binder grains, this ratio is more than or equal to 10% and less than or equal to 80%, and in an X-ray diffraction spectrum of the cubic boron nitride sintered material, one or both of conditions 1 and 2 are satisfied.

A ceramic material includes zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA), which is doped with zinc ions and other metal ions, in which the other metal ions are chromium (Cr) ions, titanium (Ti) ions, gadolinium (Gd) ions, manganese (Mn) ions, cobalt (Co) ions, iron (Fe) ions, or a combination thereof. The ceramic material may have a hardness of 1600 Hv10 to 2200 Hv10 and a bending strength of 600 MPa to 645 MPa. The ceramic material can be used as wire bonding capillary.

An oriented apatite-type oxide ion conductor includes a composite oxide expressed as A.sub.9.33+x[T.sub.6.00−yM.sub.y]O.sub.26.0+z, where A represents one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba, T represents an element including Si or Ge or both, and M represents one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of B, Ge, Zn, Sn, W, and Mo, and where x is from −1.00 to 1.00, y is from 0.40 to less than 1.00, and z is from −3.00 to 2.00.

A method is provided for growing a fiber structure, where the method includes: obtaining a substrate, growing an array of pedestal fibers on the substrate, growing fibers on the pedestal fibers, and depositing a coating surrounding each of the fibers. In another aspect, a method of fabricating a fiber structure includes obtaining a substrate and growing a plurality of fibers on the substrate according to 1½D printing. In another aspect, a multilayer functional fiber is provided produced by, for instance, the above-noted methods.

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.

Particles of a refractory metal or a refractory-metal compound capable of decomposing or reacting into refractory-metal nanoparticles, elemental silicon, and an organic compound having a char yield of at least 60% by weight are combined to form a precursor mixture. The mixture is heating, forming a thermoset and/or metal nanoparticles. Further heating form a composition having nanoparticles of a refractory-metal silicide and a carbonaceous matrix. The composition is not in the form of a powder

The invention relates to a scintillation material of rare earth orthosilicate doped with a strong electron-affinitive element and its preparation method and application thereof. The chemical formula of the scintillation material of rare earth orthosilicate doped with the strong electron-affinitive element is: RE.sub.2(1−x−y+δ/2)Ce.sub.2xM.sub.(2y−δ)Si.sub.(1−δ)M.sub.δO.sub.5. In the formula, RE is rare earth ions and M is strong electron-affinitive doping elements; the value of x is 0<x≤0.05, the value of y is 0<y≤0.015, and the value of δ is 0≤δ≤10−4; and M is selected from at least one of tungsten, lead, molybdenum, tellurium, antimony, bismuth, mercury, silver, nickel, indium, thallium, niobium, titanium, tantalum, tin, cadmium, technetium, zirconium, rhenium, and gallium Ga.

A novel metal oxide or a novel sputtering target is provided. A sputtering target includes a conductive material and an insulating material. The insulating material includes an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride including an element M1. The element M1 is one or more kinds of elements selected from Al, Ga, Si, Mg, Zr, Be, and B. The conductive material includes an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride including indium and zinc. A metal oxide film is deposited using the sputtering target in which the conductive material and the insulating material are separated from each other.

A cBN-based ultra-high pressure sintered body contains cBN particles and a binder phase. The binder phase contains at least one of a nitride or oxide of Al or a nitride, carbide, or carbonitride of Ti, and a metal boride having an average particle diameter of 20 to 300 nm is dispersed in an amount of 0.1 to 5.0 vol % in the binder phase. The metal boride includes a metal boride (B) containing at least one of Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W as a metal component and containing no Ti and a metal boride (A) containing only Ti as a metal component. In a case where a ratio (vol %) of the metal boride (A) in the metal boride is represented by V.sub.a and a ratio (vol %) of the metal boride (B) is represented by V.sub.b, a ratio of V.sub.b/V.sub.a is 0.1 to 1.0.