Provided is a ceramic composite including boron nitride (BN) and titanium diboride (TiB.sub.2) for use in 2-D and 3-D heating element applications. The ceramic composite can be used in heater applications without a protective coating. The ceramic composite may be corrosion resistant against oxygen and moisture up to, for example, a temperature of 900° C., and may offer increased corrosion resistance against molten or vapor metal, including aluminum. The ceramic composite may be sufficiently rigid and may not require additional dielectric structural support. The ceramic composite may be sufficiently fracture resistant to enable machining of intricate and complex patterns and designs with a high aspect ratio of the coil length to width or thickness. The ceramic composite may be used with any heater shape, orientation, and size.

An additive manufacturing apparatus includes a powder-layer forming portion, an energy beam source, a shielding portion, and/or a removal portion. The powder-layer forming portion is configured to form a powder layer by moving between a waiting position and a forming area and supplying powder to the forming area. The energy beam source is configured to irradiate the powder layer with an energy beam. The shielding portion is disposed outside the forming area and between the forming area and the waiting position and configured to reduce powder reaching the powder-layer forming portion, the powder being scattered from the powder layer when the powder layer is irradiated with the energy beam by the energy beam source. The removal portion is configured to remove the powder scattered from the powder layer and having adhered to the powder-layer forming portion.

An article includes a substrate and a barrier layer on the substrate. The barrier layer includes a matrix, diffusive particles dispersed in the matrix, and gettering particles dispersed in the matrix. The gettering particles include at least one alloyed metal silicide. A composite material and a method of fabricating an article are also disclosed.

An ink, and products formed from the ink, formulated at least in part from ceramic particles. The ink is formulated so that it can be used in additive manufacturing processes to form three-dimensional printed bodies. The three-dimensional printed bodies can have graded density and can be infiltrated by an infiltration material.

Methods of forming composite materials, composite materials, and articles. The composite materials may include electromagnetic shielding materials. The methods may include providing a mixture of ultra-high temperature ceramic particles and a liquid preceramic precursor, curing the mixture to form a solid mixture, forming particles of the solid mixture, and pressing the particles into a mold.

The present invention provides a silicon carbide fiber reinforced silicon carbide composite material, which is a composite material of SiC fibers and SiC ceramics with improved toughness and can be produced with high yield by relatively simple steps without complex steps such as a step of oxidation-resistant coating or an advanced interface control step. The silicon carbide composite material comprises a multiphase matrix and silicon carbide fibers disposed in the matrix, the matrix containing a silicon carbide phase and a phase that includes a substance of low reactivity with respect to silicon carbide. It can be obtained by steps suitable for mass production and ensures greatly improved fracture toughness while maintaining the excellent properties of SiC ceramics.

A cubic boron nitride sintered material comprises 30% by volume or more and 99.9% by volume or less of cubic boron nitride grains and 0.1% by volume or more and 70% by volume or less of a binder phase, the cubic boron nitride grain having a carbon content of 0.08% by mass or less, the cubic boron nitride sintered material being free of free carbon.

A polycrystalline diamond structure comprises a first region and a second region adjacent the first region, the second region being bonded to the first region by intergrowth of diamond grains. The first region comprises a plurality of alternating strata or layers, each or one or more strata or layers in the first region having a thickness in the range of around 5 to 300 microns. The polycrystalline diamond (PCD) structure has a diamond content of at most about 95 percent of the volume of the PCD material, a binder content of at least about 5 percent of the volume of the PCD material, and one or more of the layers or strata in the first region comprise and/or the second region comprises diamond grains having a mean diamond grain contiguity of greater than about 60 percent and a standard deviation of less than about 2.2 percent. There is also disclosed a method of making such a polycrystalline diamond structure.

A thermocouple is provided that can measure a temperature of a material in a high temperature range of 1500° C. or higher with high accuracy at low cost. The thermocouple includes a first conductive member and a second conductive member. The first conductive member and the second conductive member are connected to each other to form a temperature sensing junction. The first conductive member contains a first conductive ceramic containing zirconium diboride and/or titanium diboride silicon carbide, a sintering agent, and unavoidable impurities. In the first conductive ceramic, the content of the silicon carbide is 5 mass % or more and 40 mass % or less. The second conductive member contains a second conductive ceramic containing boron carbide as a main constituent material.

A cBN sintered material cutting tool includes a cutting tool body that is made of a sintered material including cubic boron nitride particles and a binder phase, in which: an average particle size of the cBN particles is 0.5 μm or less and a content ratio of the cBN particles in the sintered material is 35 vol % to 80 vol %; and the binder phase includes 1.0 vol % to 20 vol % of an Al compound, an average particle size of the Al compound present in the binder phase is 300 nm or less, and a value of a ratio (a value of S.sub.N/S.sub.O; area ratio) of a content S.sub.N of nitrogen (N) included in the Al compound to a content S.sub.O of oxygen (O) included in the Al compound is 1.1 to 5.