Red rust staining of Al/Zn coated steel strip in “acid rain” or “polluted” environments can be minimised by forming the coating as an Al—Zn—Si—Mg alloy coating with an OT:SDAS ratio greater than a value of 0.5:1, where OT is the overlay thickness on a surface of the strip and SDAS is the measure of the secondary dendrite arm spacing for the Al-rich alpha phase dendrites in the coating. Red rust staining in “acid rain” or “polluted” environments and corrosion at cut edges in marine environments can be minimised in Al—Zn—Si—Mg alloy coatings on steel strip by selection of the composition (principally Mg and Si) and solidification control (principally by cooling rate) and forming Mg.sub.2Si phase particles of a particular morphology in interdendritic channels.

A light-weight composite material with enhanced structural characteristics includes, in one embodiment, a compositionally modulated nanolaminate coating electrically deposited into an open, accessible void structure of a porous substrate. As a result of including a nanolaminate within the void structure, the composite can include a greater amount of nanolaminate material per unit volume than can be achieved by depositing a nanolaminate material solely on a two-dimensional surface. In addition, the nanolaminate material as well as other material electrodeposited to form the composite is compositionally modulated so that discontinuities between layers are minimized and potentially eliminated. The light-weight but structurally enhanced composite material can be used in a number of different applications including, but not limited to, ballistic applications (e.g., armor panels or tank panels), automotive protection applications (e.g., car door panels, racing shells) and sporting equipment applications (e.g., golf club shafts and tennis racket frames).

Provided is a laminate of a sintered body produced by sintering a copper powder paste and a ceramic substrate, which has improved adhesion between the sintered body and the ceramic substrate. A laminate with a copper powder paste sintered body laminated on a ceramic layer, the laminate comprising portions where one or more elements selected from Si, Ti and Zr derived from a copper powder surface treatment agent are together present with a thickness in a range of from 5 to 15 nm in boundaries between the copper powder paste sintered body and the ceramic layer, when observing the boundaries by scanning the laminate with STEM over 100 nm across the boundaries in a thickness direction of the laminate.

An AlZnSiMg alloy coated strip that has Mg.sub.2Si phase particles that are 2 m and have a globular shape. A method of forming an AlZnSiMg alloy coated strip comprises (a) heat treating a solidified coating to facilitate globularisation of Mg.sub.2Si phase particles in the coating and/or (b) changing the coating bath chemistry to form intermetallic compound phases that act as nucleation sites for Mg.sub.2Si phase particles with the result that small Mg.sub.2Si particles form on solidification of the coating.

A method for surface treatment of a metal material in a powder state is provided, the method including obtaining a powder formed from a plurality of particles of the metal material to be treated; and subjecting the powder to an ion implantation process by directing a beam of singly-charged or multi-charged ions towards an outer surface of the particles, the beam being produced by a source of singly-charged or multi-charged ions, whereby the particles have an overall spherical shape with a radius (R). There is also provided a material in a powder state formed from a plurality of particles having a ceramic outer layer and a metal core, the particles having an overall spherical shape.

An article comprises a body having a coating. The coating comprises a YOF coating or other yttrium-based oxy-fluoride coating generated either by performing a fluorination process on a yttrium-based oxide coating or an oxidation process on a yttrium-based fluorine coating.

The Cu core ball contains a Cu ball and one or more metal layer for covering a surface of the Cu ball, each layer including one or more element selected from Ni, Co, Fe and Pd. The Cu ball contains at least one element selected from Fe, Ag, and Ni in a total amount of 5.0 or more to 50.0 ppm by mass or lower, S in an amount of 0 ppm by mass or more to 1.0 ppm by mass or lower, P in an amount of 0 ppm by mass or more to less than 3.0 ppm by mass, and remainder of Cu and inevitable impurities. The Cu ball contains purity which is 99.995% by mass or higher and 99.9995% or lower, sphericity which is 0.95 or higher and a diameter of 1 m or more to 1000 m or lower.

An article comprises a body having a coating. The coating comprises a Y-O-F coating or other yttrium-based oxy-fluoride coating generated either by performing a fluorination process on a yttrium-based oxide coating or an oxidation process on a yttrium-based fluorine coating.

Provided is a laminate of a sintered body produced by sintering a copper powder paste and a ceramic substrate, which has improved adhesion between the sintered body and the ceramic substrate. A laminate with a copper powder paste sintered body laminated on a ceramic layer, the laminate comprising portions where one or more elements selected from Si, Ti and Zr derived from a copper powder surface treatment agent are together present with a thickness in a range of from 5 to 15 nm in boundaries between the copper powder paste sintered body and the ceramic layer, when observing the boundaries by scanning the laminate with STEM over 100 nm across the boundaries in a thickness direction of the laminate.

Provided is a laminate of a sintered body produced by sintering a copper powder paste and a ceramic substrate, which has improved adhesion between the sintered body and the ceramic substrate. A laminate with a copper powder paste sintered body laminated on a non-metal layer, wherein the copper powder paste sintered body has a crystal grain diameter of copper of 10 m or less, as determined from an EBSD map image, based on Area Fraction method, and has an average reliability index (CI value) of 0.5 or more in an analysis area.