The present invention provides A magnesium oxide whisker in-situ formed MA spinel-reinforced magnesium oxide-based ceramic foam filter and a method for preparing the same. The method comprising: 1) preparing a ceramic slurry having a solid content of 60%-70% by dosing 15%-25% by mass of a nanometer alumina sol, 0.8%-1.5% by mass of a rheological agent, and the balance magnesium oxide ceramic powder comprising magnesium oxide whiskers, and then adding deionized water and ball milling to mix until uniform, and then vacuum degassing the mixture; 2) soaking a polyurethane foam template into the ceramic slurry, squeezing by a roller press the polyurethane foam template to remove redundant slurry therein to make a biscuit, and drying the biscuit by heating it to 80 C.-1200 C.; 3) putting the dried biscuit into a sintering furnace, elevating the temperature to 1400 C.-1600 C. and performing a high temperature sintering, cooling to the room temperature with the furnace to obtain the magnesium oxide-based ceramic foam filter.

The present application relates to a magnesium oxide based dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh dielectric breakdown strength and a preparation method thereof. The composition of the magnesium oxide based dielectric ceramic material comprises: (1x)MgO-xAl.sub.2O.sub.3, wherein 0<x0.12 and x is a mole percentage. The material has a specific composite structure with magnesium aluminate spinel acting as a second phase surrounding a principal crystalline phase, MgO.

Provided are a black mixed oxide that contains chromium per se of any valency as a main component, and fails to contain cobalt as the main component material, and has a high safety, an excellent color tone and economical efficiency, and a method for producing the same, and various products using the black mixed oxide material. The mixed oxides comprise oxides containing La, Mn and Cu as main components but containing neither Cr nor Co as a main component, wherein the contents of La, Mn and Cu in the mixed oxides satisfy the following ratios, as oxide equivalent amount with respect to 100% by weight of the oxide equivalent amount: the La content as La.sub.2O.sub.3 being 35-70 wt %; the Mn content as MnO.sub.2 being 25-60 wt %; and the Cu content as CuO being 0.5-10 wt %.

A cathode material used in an anode and a cathode contains (Co, Fe).sub.3O.sub.4 and a perovskite type oxide that is expressed by the general formula ABO.sub.3 and includes at least one of La and Sr at the A site. A content ratio of (Co, Fe).sub.3O.sub.4 in the cathode material is at least 0.23 wt % and no more than 8.6 wt %.

A ferrite composition includes main-phase particles, first sub-phase particles, second sub-phase particles, and a grain boundary. At least 10% or more of the main-phase particles contain a portion whose Zn concentrations monotonously decrease from a particle surface toward a particle central part along a length of 50 nm or more. The first sub-phase particles contain Zn.sub.2SiO.sub.4. The second sub-phase particles contain SiO.sub.2. A total area ratio of the first sub-phase particles and the second sub-phase particles is 30.5% or more.

A ferrite composition includes a main component and a sub-component. The main component includes 10.0 to 38.0 mol % of a Fe compound in terms of Fe.sub.2O.sub.3, 3.0 to 11.0 mol % of a Cu compound in terms of CuO, 39.0 to 80.0 mol % (excluding 39.0 mol %) of a Zn compound in terms of ZnO, and a balance of a Ni compound. The sub-component includes 10.0 to 23.0 parts by weight of a Si compound in terms of SiO.sub.2, 0 to 3.0 parts by weight (including 0 parts by weight) of a Co compound in terms of Co.sub.3O.sub.4, and 0.1 to 3.0 parts by weight of a Bi compound in terms of Bi.sub.2O.sub.3 with respect to 100 parts by weight of the main component.

A sputtering target contains an oxide sinter that contains indium (In) element, tin element (Sn), zinc element (Zn), X element and oxygen, that further contains a spinel structure compound represented by Zn.sub.2SnO.sub.4, and that satisfies a formula (1) representing an atomic ratio of the elements.

0.001X/(In+Sn+Zn+X)0.05(1)

In the formula (1), In, Zn, Sn, and X represent contents of the In element, Zn element, Sn element, and X element in the oxide sinter, respectively, and the X element is at least one element selected from Ge, Si, Y, Zr, Al, Mg, Yb and Ga.

An optical member includes a transparent substrate, an alumina-based first transparent ceramic layer on the transparent substrate, and an alumina-based second transparent ceramic layer on the alumina-based first transparent ceramic layer such that the alumina-based first transparent ceramic layer is between the transparent substrate and the alumina-based second transparent ceramic layer. A refractive index of the alumina-based second transparent ceramic layer is smaller than a refractive index of the alumina-based first transparent ceramic layer. The alumina-based first transparent ceramic layer and the alumina-based second transparent ceramic layer may have independent compositions, and the independent compositions may each be a silica-free composition.

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.

The invention relates to a sintered ball that has the following crystallized phases, in mass percentages based on crystallized phases and for a total of 100%: stabilized zirconia: remainder up to 100%; monoclinic zirconia: 20%; 4%magnetic component22%; crystallized phases other than stabilized zirconia, monoclinic zirconia and magnetic component: <10%; the magnetic component being chosen from among magnetic spinels, magnetic garnets, magnetic hexagonal ferrites and mixtures thereof; the sintered ball comprising, in addition to the magnetic component, CeO.sub.2 and optionally Y.sub.2O.sub.3, in contents that, in molar percentages on the basis of the sum of ZrO.sub.2, CeO.sub.2 and Y.sub.2O.sub.3, 3%CeO.sub.217.5% and 1.5%Y.sub.2O.sub.3+(CeO.sub.2)/3.55%.