A method of forming a metal deposit on an ultra-hard material. In an embodiment, the method includes providing a plurality of ultra-hard particles, mixing the ultra-hard particles in a solution with a metal salt, drying the solution to create a mixture of metal salt particles adhered to surfaces of the ultra-hard particles, heating the mixture to convert the metal salt particles into metal deposits on the surfaces of the ultra-hard particles, and HTHP sintering the mixture of ultra-hard particles with the metal deposits to form a polycrystalline ultra-hard material.

Methods of producing silicon carbide, and other metal carbide materials. The method comprises reacting a carbon material (e.g., fibers, or nanoparticles, such as powder, platelet, foam, nanofiber, nanorod, nanotube, whisker, graphene (e.g., graphite), fullerene, or hydrocarbon) and a metal or metal oxide source material (e.g., in gaseous form) in a reaction chamber at an elevated temperature ranging up to approximately 2400 C. or more, depending on the particular metal or metal oxide, and the desired metal carbide being produced. A partial pressure of oxygen in the reaction chamber is maintained at less than approximately 1.0110.sup.2 Pascal, and overall pressure is maintained at approximately 1 atm.

The present disclosure relates to the formation of polycrystalline diamond materials with fine diamond grains and nano-sized particles of a grain growth inhibitor. In one embodiment, a method of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond material is provided. The method includes providing a mixture of diamond particles with an average particle size of about 1 micron or less, distributing a plurality of nano-sized titanium-containing particles with the diamond mixture, to act as a grain growth inhibitor, and sintering the mixture of diamond particles and titanium-containing particles at high pressure and high temperature to create a polycrystalline structure of sintered diamond grains. The sintered diamond grains have an average size of about 1 micron or less.

A method of manufacturing polycrystalline abrasive elements consisting of micron, sub-micron or nano-sized ultrahard abrasives dispersed in micron, sub-micron or nano-sized matrix materials. A plurality of ultrahard abrasive particles having vitreophilic surfaces are coated with a matrix precursor material and then treated to render them suitable for sintering. The matrix precursor material can be converted to an oxide, nitride, carbide, oxynitride, oxycarbide, or carbonitride, or an elemental form thereof. The coated ultrahard abrasive particles are consolidated and sintered at a pressure and temperature at which they are crystallographically or thermodynamically stable.

The invention relates to method of depositing refractory metal carbide onto part of a surface of a body comprising diamond, the method including adhering directly onto part of the surface a refractory precursor material comprising a compound including oxygen and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta and W; the refractory precursor material being reducible in the presence of carbon on the application of heat to form at least one compound comprising metal carbide or mixed metal carbide; and reducing the refractory precursor material by the application of heat. The invention further relates to a body comprising diamond, part of the surface of the body having directly adhered thereto a metal carbide and part of the surface of the body having directly adhered thereto a metallic material and the content of diamond being greater than 80 volume percent of a volume of the body.

A method of forming a polycrystalline diamond compact comprises providing metallized diamond particles including diamond particles including nanograins of a sweep catalyst secured thereto, the sweep catalyst comprising at least one of tungsten and tungsten carbide and constituting between about 0.01 weight percent and about 1.0 weight percent of the metallized diamond particles and placing the metallized diamond particles and a metal solvent catalyst in a container. The metallized diamond particles are subjected to a high-temperature, high-pressure process in the presence of the metal solvent catalyst to form a polycrystalline diamond material having inter-bonded diamond grains and nanograins of tungsten carbide, the nanograins of tungsten carbide covering less than about twenty percent of a surface area of the inter-bonded diamond grains. Polycrystalline diamond compacts and earth-boring tools including the polycrystalline diamond compacts are also disclosed.

Currently, the commercial fuel of choice, UO.sub.2-zircaloy, is economical due to an established and simple fabrication process. However, the alternatives to the UO.sub.2-zircaloy that may improve on system safety are sought. The fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel system that is potentially inherently safe fuel and is an improvement on the UO.sub.2-zircaloy system is prohibitively expensive because of the known methods to produce it. Disclosed herein is a new production route and fixturing that produces identical or superior FCM fuel consistent with mass production by providing a plurality of tristructural-isotropic fuel particles; mixing the plurality of tristructural-isotropic fuel particles with ceramic powder to form a mixture; placing the mixture in a die; and applying a current to the die so as to sinter the mixture by direct current sintering into a fuel element.