This invention provides a ceramic powder capable of forming a sintered body having a high density and high ionic conductivity even at a sintering temperature lower than the temperature conventionally used, and provides a battery containing a sintered body of the ceramic powder as a constituent element. The above problem is solved by a ceramic powder containing a garnet-type oxide and compound 1, wherein the garnet-type oxide contains zirconium, lithium, and lanthanum, and compound 1 contains at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of lanthanum, lithium, zirconium, gallium, scandium, yttrium, cerium, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, barium, strontium, niobium, and tantalum.

[OBJECTS] An object of the present invention is to provide a lithium-ion-conductive ceramic material having a target ion conductivity, while suppressing production cost. Another object is to provide a high-performance lithium battery, while suppressing production cost, by virtue of having the lithium-ion-conductive ceramic material. The lithium-ion-conductive ceramic material contains Li, La, and Zr, as well as at least one of Mg and A (wherein A represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ca, Sr, and Ba) and which has a garnet-type crystal structure, wherein the elements contained in the ceramic material satisfy the following mole ratio conditions (1) to (3): (1) 1.33≤Li/(La+A)≤3; (2) 0<Mg/(La+A)≤0.5; and (3) 0<A/(La+A)≤0.67, and a lithium battery employing the ceramic material.

A piezoelectric ceramic containing a perovskite-type compound containing at least Pb, Zr, Ti, Mn, and Nb, in which in an X-ray crystal structure analysis chart of the perovskite-type compound, there is no X-ray diffraction peak branching between a (101) plane of a main peak of a PZT tetra phase in a range of 2θ=30.5° to 31.5° and a (110) plane on which an X-ray diffraction peak is in a range of 2θ=30.8° to 31.8°, and a number of X-ray diffraction peaks based on the (101) plane and the (110) plane is one.

The invention relates to the use of ceramic parts that at least partly consist of a ceramic foam in the field of medical technology.

Ceramic comprising at least one polycrystalline metal oxide and amorphous phase, wherein the metal oxide comprises crystals with grain boundaries and triple points, wherein the amorphous phase is present at the grain boundaries and triple points. Exemplary articles made by a method described herein include electronics enclosure (e.g., a watch case, cellular phone case, or a tablet case).

The present invention provides a zirconia pre-sintered body that develops the preferable shade with a short firing time. The present invention relates to a zirconia pre-sintered body comprising zirconia that comprises predominantly monoclinic, and a stabilizer capable of inhibiting a phase transformation of zirconia, the zirconia pre-sintered body satisfying the following conditions: L1, a1, b1, L2, a2, and b2 are confined within predetermined ranges, L1>L2, a1<a2, and b1<b2,
where (L1,a1,b1) represent values of (L*,a*,b*) of the L*a*b* color system after sintering as measured at a first point falling within an interval of a length from one end of the zirconia pre-sintered body to 25% of the entire length of a straight line extending along a first direction from one end to the other end of the zirconia pre-sintered body, and (L2,a2,b2) represent values of (L*,a*,b*) after sintering as measured at a second point falling within an interval of a length from the other end of the zirconia pre-sintered body to 25% of the entire length of the straight line, and the values of (L*,a*,b*) after sintering show unchanging patterns of increase and decrease in a direction from the first point to the second point.

Provided herein are rapid, high quality film sintering processes that include high-throughput continuous sintering of lithium-lanthanum zirconium oxide (lithium-stuffed garnet). The instant disclosure sets forth equipment and processes for making high quality, rapidly-processed ceramic electrolyte films. These processes include high-throughput continuous sintering of lithium-lanthanum zirconium oxide for use as electrolyte films. In certain processes, the film is not in contact with any surface as it sinters (i.e., during the sintering phase).

The sintered body has an average particle size in the range of 0.1 m or more and 5 m or less, includes gamet-type oxide base material particles having at least Li, La, and Zr, has 8% by volume or more of voids, and has an ionic conductivity of 1.010.sup.5 S/cm or more at temperature of 25 C.

A dielectric ceramic composition includes a main component of a perovskite type compound represented by a general formula of ABO.sub.3, in which A is an element in an A-site, B is an element in a B-site, and O is an oxygen element. A includes Ba. A further includes at least one of Ca and Sr. B includes Ti. A sintered-body lattice volume obtained by X-ray diffraction method is 64.33 .sup.3 or below.

[Object] An object is to provide a SnZnO-based oxide sintered body which has a mechanical strength, a high density, and a low resistance characteristic and which is applied as a sputtering target, and a method for producing the same.

[Solving Means] In this oxide sintered body, Sn is contained with an atomic ratio of Sn/(Sn+Zn) being 0.1 or more and 0.9 or less, and a first additional element M is contained with an atomic ratio of M/(Sn+Zn+M+X) being 0.0001 or more and 0.04 or less relative to a total amount of all the metal elements, and a second additional element X is contained with an atomic ratio of X/(Sn+Zn+M+X) being 0.0001 or more and 0.1 or less relative to the total amount of all the metal elements, where the first additional element M is at least one selected from Si, Ti, Ge, In, Bi, Ce, Al, and Ga, and the second additional element X is at least one selected from Nb, Ta, W, and Mo, and a relative density of the sintered body is 90% or more and a specific electrical resistance of the sintered body is 1 .Math.cm or less.