A coated substrate has a substrate and a coating system having one or more ceramic layers. At least a first layer of one of the one or more ceramic layers is a columnar layer having as-deposited columns and intercolumn gaps. The intercolumn gaps have a mean width at least one of: at least 4.0 micrometers; and at least 1.5% of a thickness of said first layer.

A method for fabricating a substrate provided with a plurality of layers, includes: providing a steel substrate with an oxide layer including metal oxides on the steel substrate; providing a metal coating layer directly on the oxide layer, the metal coating layer including: at least 8% by weight nickel; at least 10% by weight chromium; and a remainder being iron and impurities from a fabrication process; and providing an anti-corrosion coating layer directly on the metal coating layer.

Provided is a plating film containing Au and Tl, including Tl oxides including Tl.sub.2O on a surface of the plating film, a ratio of Tl atoms constituting Tl.sub.2O to a total of Tl atoms constituting the Tl oxides and Tl atoms constituting Tl simple substances on the surface being 40% or more.

In one aspect of the present invention, a hot-dip galvannealed steel sheet includes a steel sheet and a hot-dip galvannealed layer on the surface of the steel sheet. The steel sheet has a predetermined composition and has an average oxygen concentration of 0.10 mass % or less in the region of 1 μm from the interface between the steel sheet and the hot-dip galvannealed layer toward the steel sheet. The metal microstructure of the steel sheet at a position of t/4 where t represents the sheet thickness of the hot-dip galvannealed steel sheet includes 50 to 85 area % of martensite, 15 to 50 area % of bainite, and 5 area % or less of ferrite.

An aluminum-based coating of a flat steel product is applied in a hot-dipping method and comprises a mass percentage of silicon within a given range. The coating for a flat steel product, in particular for press mold hardening components, offers a shortened required minimum oven dwell time and a sufficiently large processing window when heating in an oven. This is achieved in that the surface of the coating has a degree of absorption for thermal radiation ranging between 0.35 and 0.95 prior to an annealing treatment, where the degree of absorption relates to an oven temperature ranging from 880 to 950° C. during the austenitizing annealing treatment. The invention additionally relates to an improved method for producing a flat steel product with an aluminum-based coating, to an inexpensive method for producing press-hardened components from such flat steel products, and to a press-hardened component made of such flat steel products.

Provided are a zinc-base plated steel material comprising a base steel and a zinc-based plated layer and a post-treatment film, which are sequentially formed on the base steel. The post-treatment film comprises an oxide or oxide salt of at least one group A element selected from B, Al, V, and Fe and an organic compound, wherein the content of oxygen atoms in the post-treatment film is 50 atom % or more, and wherein when the mole number of oxygen atoms forming a covalent bond with hydrogen in the post-treatment film is a and the mole number of oxygen atoms not forming the covalent bond with hydrogen is b, a/b is 0.3 or greater; and a composition for forming the post-treatment film.

There is provided a hot-stamped body including: a steel base metal; and a metallic layer formed on a surface of the steel base metal, wherein the metallic layer includes: an interface layer that contains, in mass %, Al: 30.0 to 36.0%, has a thickness of 100 nm to 15 μm, and is located in an interface between the metallic layer and the steel base metal; and a principal layer that includes coexisting Zn phases and insular FeAl.sub.2 phases, is located on the interface layer, and has a thickness of 1 μm to 40 μm. This hot-stamped body is excellent in fatigue properties, corrosion resistance, and chipping resistance.

An article includes a substrate and a barrier layer on the substrate. The barrier layer includes a matrix, diffusive particles dispersed in the matrix, and gettering particles dispersed in the matrix. The gettering particles include at least one alloyed metal silicide. A composite material and a method of fabricating an article are also disclosed.

A coated substrate has a substrate and a coating system having one or more ceramic layers. At least a first layer of one of the one or more ceramic layers is a columnar layer having as-deposited columns and intercolumn gaps. The intercolumn gaps have a mean width at least one of: at least 4.0 micrometers; and at least 1.5% of a thickness of said first layer.

The disclosed invention includes articles having advantageous ceramic layers with a ceramic/metal intermediate layer that diminishes towards a pure metal core. Such articles have substantial use in unconventional, harsh environments.