An electronic component having excellent DC superimposition characteristic and initial magnetic permeability, a core used for the electronic component, and a element body constituting the core are provided. The element body has magnetic large particles and at least one spacer region, wherein one or more small particles having an average particle size smaller than that of the magnetic large particles exist as spacers to form the spacer region between the large particles in a field of view within a predetermined range where 10 or more and 40 or less of the large particles are observable in a cross section of the element body.

The present invention discloses a non-thermal plasma treatment of metal powders in order to improve their processability by additive manufacturing (AM). The invention consists in bonding primary particles constituted of metals or metal alloys to a plurality of secondary particles constituted of metals, metal alloys, ceramics or polymers by the mean of a non-thermal plasma treatment. The primary particles have a larger mean diameter than the secondary. Both particles are injected through a non-thermal plasma glow discharge and/or in its afterglow region (region downstream the plasma discharge) where their surfaces are cleaned by removing contaminants and/or oxide layer and activated to react between each other. The functionalized metal powders are then collected and afterwards processed by AM leading to high quality parts. The functionalized metal powders produced by this plasma treatment improve the processability of metal by AM. Indeed, decreasing the reflectivity, removing contaminant and oxide layer, enhancing the isotropic solidification of melted materials and decreasing the sintering temperature enhance the efficiency of powder based AM processes.

Provided is A metal paste for joints, containing: metal particles; and monovalent carboxylic acid having 1 to 9 carbon atoms, in which the metal particles include sub-micro copper particles having a volume average particle diameter of 0.12 μm to 0.8 ηm, and a content of the monovalent carboxylic acid having 1 to 9 carbon atoms is 0.015 part by mass to 0.2 part by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the metal particles.

A method of forming a metal nanomaterial comprises forming a precursor solution comprising a metal precursor and a metal oxide precursor. A complexing agent is added to the precursor solution, and the metal precursor and the metal oxide precursor are hydrolyzed to form a sol. The sol is heated to form a gel, which is calcined to incorporate metal cations from the metal precursor into a metal oxide lattice from the metal oxide precursor. The calcined gel is exposed to a reducing agent to exsolve the metal from the metal oxide lattice and to form a metal nanomaterial comprising a metal and a metal oxide is formed. Additional methods of forming a metal nanomaterial are also disclosed.

There is provided solid composite material comprising an alloy based on manganese, aluminum and optionally carbon, and dispersed nanoparticles made from a material X, as well as a method of manufacturing the same. The material X is different from manganese, aluminum, carbon or a mixture thereof and satisfying the following requirements the melting temperature of the material X is 1400° C. or higher, preferably 1500° C. or higher; and the material X comprises a metal.

The composite material is suitable as a magnetic material or as a precursor of a magnetic material, and allows obtaining improved magnetic properties as compared to existing alloys based on manganese, aluminum and optionally carbon due the presence of the nanoparticles. A magnetic material in shaped form comprising the composite material and an electric or electronic device comprising the magnetic material are also part of the invention.

A light metal joint filler is provided. The light metal joint filler is formed by uniformly mixing a solvent with a light metal powder and a silver powder, where a powder particle size of the light metal powder is on a micron scale, and a powder particle size of the silver powder is on a nanometer scale or a submicron scale. A metal joining method of the present disclosure includes: coating a joint of two to-be-joined light metal pieces with the light metal joint filler; and hot pressing the two to-be-joined light metal pieces, so that the silver powder is sintered and bonded with the light metal powder and surfaces of the two to-be-joined light metal pieces, and completing joining of the two to-be-joined light metal pieces after the silver powder is condensed.

A metal paste for low temperature bonding at temperatures 600° C. or lower, the metal paste comprising: a metal particle with an average particle size of 1 to 100 μm; a metal nanoparticle with an average particle size of 1 to 500 nm; a stress relieving material; and a dispersion medium to disperse the metal particle, metal nanoparticle, and the stress relieving material.

Method for manufacturing an aluminium alloy part by additive manufacturing comprising a step in which a layer of a mixture of powders is locally melted then solidified, wherein the mixture of powders comprises: first particles comprising at least 80 wt. % aluminium and up to 20 wt. % one or more additional elements, and second particles of ZrSi.sub.2, the mixture of powders comprising 1.8 wt. % to 4 wt. % second particles.

One object of the present invention is to provide copper fine particles which have sufficient dispersibility when made into a paste and can be sintered at 150° C. or lower, the present invention provides copper fine particles, wherein the copper fine particles have a coating film containing copper carbonate and cuprous oxide on at least a part of the surface thereof, and a ratio between the following Db and the following Dv (Db/Dv) is in a range of 0.50˜0.90, Dv: an average value (nm) of the area equivalent circle diameter of the copper fine particles obtained by acquiring SEM images for 500 or more copper fine particles using a scanning electron microscope, and calculating by image analysis software, Db: a particle size (nm) of the copper fine particles obtained by measuring a specific surface area (SSA (m.sup.2/g)) of the copper fine particles using a specific surface area meter, and calculating by the following formula (1), Db=6/(SSA×ρ)×10.sup.9 . . . (1) in the formula (1), ρ is a density of copper (g/m.sup.3).

A method for producing fine copper particles includes producing fine copper particles having a coating film containing cuprous oxide on a surface by heating copper or a copper compound in a reducing flame formed by a burner. The fine copper particles are produced by adjusting a mixing ratio between a combustible gas and a combustion supporting gas which form the reducing flame such that a volume ratio of CO/CO.sub.2 is in a range of 1.5 to 2.4.