To provide a method for producing surface-modified metal oxide fine particles, which can produce surface-modified metal oxide fine particles having excellent dispersion stability in dispersion liquids having various compositions; a method for producing improved metal oxide fine particles, suitable as a method for producing metal oxide fine particles to be surface-modified in production of the surface-modified metal oxide fine particles; surface-modified metal oxide fine particles which can be produced by the method for producing surface-modified metal oxide fine particles; and a metal oxide fine particle dispersion liquid including the surface-modified metal oxide fine particles. Surface-modified metal oxide fine particles are produced by a method including coating at least a part of surfaces of metal oxide fine particles with a carboxylic acid compound having a certain structure substituted with an amino group which may be cyclic, and/or carboxylate thereof.

Embodiments of a method for producing powder mixtures having uniform dispersion of ceramic particles within larger superalloy particles are provided, as are embodiments of superalloy powder mixtures. In one embodiment, the method includes producing an initial powder mixture comprising ceramic particles mixed with superalloy mother particles having an average diameter larger than the average diameter of the ceramic particles. The initial powder mixture is formed into a consumable solid body. At least a portion of the consumable solid body is gradually melted, while the consumable solid body is rotated at a rate of speed sufficient to cast-off a uniformly dispersed powder mixture in which the ceramic particles are embedded within the superalloy mother particles.

Embodiments of a method for producing powder mixtures having uniform dispersion of ceramic particles within larger superalloy particles are provided, as are embodiments of superalloy powder mixtures. In one embodiment, the method includes producing an initial powder mixture comprising ceramic particles mixed with superalloy mother particles having an average diameter larger than the average diameter of the ceramic particles. The initial powder mixture is formed into a consumable solid body. At least a portion of the consumable solid body is gradually melted, while the consumable solid body is rotated at a rate of speed sufficient to cast-off a uniformly dispersed powder mixture in which the ceramic particles are embedded within the superalloy mother particles.

A method loading powder into a mold can include immersing the mold comprising one or more microchannels into a suspension comprising the powder and a surfactant suspended in a dispersant, wherein the powder comprises particles having an average particle size of less than 100 m, wherein the mold is substantially entirely covered by the suspension; heating the suspension having the mold immersed therein under a temperature condition suitable to lower the stability of the particles of the powder in the suspension such that the particles settle out of solution and into the one or more microchannels; and applying an ultrasonic wave to the heated suspension to further settle the particles of the powder into the one or more microchannels thereby filling the one or more microchannels of the mold with the powder.

Expandable apparatus include a triggering element comprising an at least partially corrodible composite material. Methods are used to trigger expandable apparatus using such a triggering element and to form such triggering elements for use with expandable apparatus.

In one aspect, methods of making freestanding metal matrix composite articles and alloy articles are described. A method of making a freestanding composite article described herein comprises disposing over a surface of the temporary substrate a layered assembly comprising a layer of infiltration metal or alloy and a hard particle layer formed of a flexible sheet comprising organic binder and the hard particles. The layered assembly is heated to infiltrate the hard particle layer with metal or alloy providing a metal matrix composite, and the metal matrix composite is separated from the temporary substrate. Further, a method of making a freestanding alloy article described herein comprises disposing over the surface of a temporary substrate a flexible sheet comprising organic binder and powder alloy and heating the sheet to provide a sintered alloy article. The sintered alloy article is then separated from the temporary substrate.

One aspect of the invention relates to a pump device, comprising i. an impeller; ii. a pump housing which at least partly surrounds an interior region, having an inlet and an outlet, wherein the impeller is located within the interior region of the pump housing; wherein the pump housing comprises at least one first subregion and at least one further subregion; wherein the first subregion comprises a ceramic, wherein the further subregion comprises a metal, wherein at least one part of the first subregion and at least one part of the further subregion are connected to one another. One aspect of the invention further relates to a housing which comprises the features described for the pump housing. One aspect of the invention also relates to a method for producing a pump housing.

A method of fabricating a material is described. The method includes preparing a powder mixture including yttrium aluminum garnet doped with a fissionable isotope, grinding the powder mixture to form a first milled powder, drying the first milled powder, calcinating the first milled powder to form a calcinated powder, grinding the calcinated powder to form a second milled powder, drying the second milled powder, shaping the second milled powder to form a plurality of shaped material portions, and sintering the plurality of shaped material portions.

Flaky alumina particles including mullite in a surface layer of the flaky alumina particles. A method for producing flaky alumina particles including forming a mixture by mixing together an aluminum compound that contains elemental aluminum, a molybdenum compound that contains elemental molybdenum, and silicon or a silicon compound that contains elemental silicon, the aluminum compound being in an amount greater than or equal to 50 mass %, calculated as Al.sub.2O.sub.3, the molybdenum compound being in an amount less than or equal to 40 mass %, calculated as MoO.sub.3, the silicon or the silicon compound being in an amount of 0.5 mass % or greater and less than 10 mass %, calculated as SiO.sub.2, relative to a total mass of the flaky alumina particles taken as 100 mass %; and firing the mixture.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for producing an oxide-dispersed strengthened alloy using organic-inorganic kneaded composition is provided. The method, comprises: a feedstock preparing step of preparing the organic-inorganic kneaded composition prepared by kneading, pulverizing and granulating ODS mixed powders and a polymer binder; a molding step of forming a semi-finished product having a predetermined shape using the organic-inorganic kneaded composition; a debinding step of removing the polymeric binder from the semi-finished product molded in the molding step; and a sintering step of extracting a final product having a predetermined shape by sintering and cooling the semi-finished product in which the polymeric binder has been removed in the debinding step.