Provided are a barium titanate-based piezoelectric ceramics having satisfactory piezoelectric performance and a satisfactory mechanical quality factor (Q.sub.m), and a piezoelectric element using the same. Specifically provided are a piezoelectric ceramics, including: crystal particles; and a grain boundary between the crystal particles, in which the crystal particles each include barium titanate having a perovskite-type structure and manganese at 0.04% by mass or more and 0.20% by mass or less in terms of a metal with respect to the barium titanate, and the grain boundary includes at least one compound selected from the group consisting of Ba.sub.4Ti.sub.12O.sub.27 and Ba.sub.6Ti.sub.17O.sub.40, and a piezoelectric element using the same.

There are provided a composite perovskite powder, a preparation method thereof, and a paste composition for an internal electrode having the same, the composite perovskite powder capable of preventing ions from being eluted from an aqueous system at the time of synthesis while being ultra-atomized, such that when the composite perovskite powder is used as an inhibitor powder for an internal electrode, sintering properties of the internal electrode may be deteriorated, and sintering properties of a dielectric material may be increased; accordingly, connectivity of the internal electrode may be improved, and permittivity and reliability of a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) may be increased.

A method of 3D printing in which a 3D product is built up layer by layer by jetting from print heads includes forming part of a 3D product by a functional binder jetting process; jetting one or more material in a 2D pattern to form a structure on said part; completing the formation of the 3D product by continuing the functional binder jetting process, so that said structure becomes embedded in said product. Functional binder jetting may include: providing a layer of a powder bed; jetting a functional binder onto selected parts of said layer, wherein said functional binder infiltrates into pores in the powder bed and locally fuses particles of the powder bed in situ; sequentially repeating applying a layer of powder on top and selectively jetting functional binder, multiple times, to provide a powder bed bonded at selected locations by printed functional binder.

Provided is a barium compound structure including: a plurality of first compound particles containing a barium compound that is crystalline and is different from barium sulfate; a binding part covering a surface of each of the plurality of first compound particles and containing barium sulfate that is crystalline; and a plurality of second compound particles containing a compound that contains silicon. The first compound particles are bound through at least one of the binding part or the plurality of second compound particles.

A strongly scattering optoceramic converter material having a density of less than 97% is provided, as well as a method for producing such an optoceramic material. By appropriately choosing in particular the composition, blending method, and sintering conditions, the production method permits to produce converter materials with tailored properties.

The present invention provides a novel silicon carbide fiber reinforced silicon carbide composite material, which is a composite material of SiC fibers and SiC ceramics with improved toughness, that can be produced with high yield by a relatively simple production step without complex production steps such as a step of oxidation-resistant coating or an advanced interface control step.

The silicon carbide fiber reinforced silicon carbide composite material comprising a multiphase matrix containing a silicon carbide phase and a phase comprising a substance having low reactivity with respect to silicon carbide; and silicon carbide fibers disposed in the matrix can be obtained by a production step suitable for mass production. The composite material ensures greatly improved fracture toughness while maintaining the excellent properties of SiC ceramics.

Provided is a transparent spinel sintered body which is formed from an Mg—Al spinel powder having an Al/Mg ratio of from 1.97 to 2.03 or a mixed powder of an Mg oxide and an Al oxide, and wherein the total content of metal impurities excluding Al and Mg is less than 100 ppm. A sample of this transparent spinel sintered body having a thickness of 3 mm has a total light transmittance of 80% or more in the thickness direction for the wavelength range of from 190 nm to 400 nm; and this transparent spinel sintered body is usable as a medium that transmits light from an ultraviolet light emitting element.

A method for producing a form-stable phase-change material to nucleate sugar alcohols includes directionally freezing a slurry of solid chitosan and solvent and additives, providing a frozen slurry including unidirectional pillars of frozen solvent that force suspended solid particles into interstices, exposing the frozen slurry to conditions causing sublimation of the solvent of the frozen slurry to remove frozen solvent and provide a body having pillars of vacancies therein, sintering the body to provide a scaffold including the pillars of vacancies therein, graphitizing the scaffold by heating in argon, treating the scaffold with aqueous base, and adding a molten sugar alcohol phase-change material to the scaffold such that the molten phase-change material is drawn into the pillars of vacancies by capillary action to provide the form-stable phase-change material having reduced hysteresis of the melting point of the sugar alcohol phase-change material.

The present invention relates to a method for producing an electrode material for a battery electrode, in particular for a lithium-ion battery, wherein said electrode material comprises nanostructured silicon carbide, comprising the steps of: a) providing a mixture including a silicon source, a carbon source and a dopant, wherein at least the silicon source and the carbon source are present in common in particles of a solid granulate; b) treating the mixture provided in step a) at a temperature in the range from ≧1400° C. to ≦2000° C., in particular in a range from ≧1650° C. to ≦1850° C., wherein step b) is carried out in a reactor that has a depositing surface the temperature of which relative to at least one other inner reactor surface is reduced. In summary, a method described above enables to combine a simple and cost-efficient production with a high cycle stability.

A composite polycrystal contains polycrystalline diamond formed of diamond grains that are directly bonded mutually, and non-diamond carbon dispersed in the polycrystalline diamond, and has a concentration of contained hydrogen of less than or equal to 1000 ppm.