A method (100) for producing a particulate titanium alloy product can include preparing (110) a composite particulate oxide mixture with TiO.sub.2 powder and at least one alloying element powder. The composite particulate oxide mixture can be co-reduced (120) using a metallic reducing agent under a hydrogen atmosphere at a reduction temperature for a reduction time sufficient to produce a hydrogenated titanium alloy product. The hydrogenated titanium alloy product can then be heat treated (130) under a hydrogen atmosphere and a heat treating temperature to reduce pore size and specific surface area to form a heat treated hydrogenated titanium product. The heat treated hydrogenated titanium product can be deoxygenated (140) to reduce residual oxygen to less than 0.2 wt % to form a deoxygenated hydrogenated titanium product as a particulate. The deoxygenated hydrogenated titanium product can optionally be dehydrogenated (150) to form the titanium alloy product as a particulate.

A problem is to provide a silver paste which can produce, without variation in resistivity value, a conductive silver coating film exhibiting resistivity substantially equivalent to the resistance value of bulk silver in low-temperature sintering. The problem is solved by providing a silver paste including a silver nanoparticle aqueous dispersion prepared by using a compound having a polyethyleneimine skeleton as a protective agent, a compound having a functional group reactable with nitrogen atoms in the polyethyleneimine, and at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a compound having an amine functional group and a compound having an amide functional group.

A problem is to provide a silver paste which can produce, without variation in resistivity value, a conductive silver coating film exhibiting resistivity substantially equivalent to the resistance value of bulk silver in low-temperature sintering. The problem is solved by providing a silver paste including a silver nanoparticle aqueous dispersion prepared by using a compound having a polyethyleneimine skeleton as a protective agent, a compound having a functional group reactable with nitrogen atoms in the polyethyleneimine, and at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a compound having an amine functional group and a compound having an amide functional group.

A method for manufacturing metal powder is provided. The method includes preparing first metal powder, agglomerating the first metal powder to manufacture second metal powder in which the first metal powder is agglomerated, coating the second metal powder with an organic binder, and agglomerating and coarsening the second metal powder coated with the organic binder to manufacture third metal powder having higher flowability than the second metal powder coated with the organic binder.

A method for manufacturing metal powder is provided. The method includes preparing first metal powder, agglomerating the first metal powder to manufacture second metal powder in which the first metal powder is agglomerated, coating the second metal powder with an organic binder, and agglomerating and coarsening the second metal powder coated with the organic binder to manufacture third metal powder having higher flowability than the second metal powder coated with the organic binder.

A method for producing nickel nanopowder is introduced. For this, the present invention relates to a method for producing nickel nanopowder, including: (a) a step of preparing nickel oxide configured in the form of an oxide; (b) a nickel oxide nanopowder production step of pulverizing the nickel oxide so as to produce nano-sized nickel oxide nanopowder; (c) a step of drying the nickel oxide nanopowder; (d) a step of heat-treating the nickel oxide nanopowder so as to produce natural metal nickel nanopowder; and (e) a step of crushing the heat-treated nickel oxide nanopowder.

A method for producing nickel nanopowder is introduced. For this, the present invention relates to a method for producing nickel nanopowder, including: (a) a step of preparing nickel oxide configured in the form of an oxide; (b) a nickel oxide nanopowder production step of pulverizing the nickel oxide so as to produce nano-sized nickel oxide nanopowder; (c) a step of drying the nickel oxide nanopowder; (d) a step of heat-treating the nickel oxide nanopowder so as to produce natural metal nickel nanopowder; and (e) a step of crushing the heat-treated nickel oxide nanopowder.

Composite compositions comprising metal nanoparticles and/or microparticles and a binder are provided. Composites are tunable to achieved specific desired characteristics, such as sintering temperature, melting temperature, print resolution, and surface binding capabilities. Preferably, the metal particles may be produced using plasma-based technology. The composites are spreadable or printable and are especially useful in the field of electronics. The composites are capable of being used to form highly conductive wires or traces in electronic components. Preferably, the resulting metal structure has a low level of metal oxidation. The disclosure also includes methods for producing composite materials.

Nanocages are formed by etching nancubes. The nanocubes are added to an aqueous system having an amphiphilic lipid dissolved in an organic solvent (e.g. a hydrophobic alcohol) to form reverse micelles. As the water evaporates the micelles shrink as etching of the flat surface of the nanocubes occurs. In this fashion hollow nanocages are produced. In one embodiment, the nanocage is covalently attached to a polymer shell (e.g. a dextran shell).

A method for the manufacturing a representative homotop of a binary metallic nanoparticle (A.sub.xB.sub.1-x).sub.N with a given composition A.sub.xB.sub.1-x, number of atoms N and shape, and at a given temperature, including generating a plurality of homotops, calculating an energy of the generate homotops using formula:

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}{E}_{\mathrm{TOP}}=E_0\left(x,N\right)+{\mathrm{.Math.}}_{\mathrm{BOND}}^{A.Math.\text{-}.Math.B}\left(x\right).Math.N_{\mathrm{BOND}}^{A.Math.\text{-}.Math.B}+\underset{i}{.Math.}.Math..Math.{\mathrm{.Math.}}_{\mathrm{CORNER},i}^A\left(x\right).Math.N_{\mathrm{CORNER},i}^A+\underset{j}{.Math.}.Math..Math.{\mathrm{.Math.}}_{\mathrm{EDGE},j}^A\left(x\right).Math.N_{\mathrm{EDGE},j}^A+{.Math.}_{\left\{\mathrm{LMN}\right\}}.Math.{\mathrm{.Math.}}_{\left\{\mathrm{LMN}\right\}}^A\left(x\right).Math.N_{\left\{\mathrm{LMN}\right\}}^A& \left(1\right)\end{array}$

where E.sub.0(x, N) is constant for a given particle, ε.sub.BOND.sup.A-B(x) is related to an energy gain caused by the mixing of both metals, N.sub.BOND.sup.A-B is a number of heteroatomic