A process and a plant produce hollow microspheres made of glass. According to the process an aqueous suspension is prepared from starting materials containing glass powder and water glass, feedstock particles having a diameter between 5 μm and 300 μm, in particular between 5 μm and 100 μm, being produced from the suspension. The feedstock particles are mixed with a pulverulent release agent made of aluminum hydroxide in an intensive mixer. The mixture of feedstock particles and release agent is subsequently introduced into a firing chamber of a furnace. The feedstock particles expand in the firing chamber, at a firing temperature which exceeds the softening temperature of the glass powder, to form the hollow microspheres.

A method of manufacturing a polarizing glass sheet includes subjecting, while heating, a glass preform sheet containing metal halide particles to down-drawing, to thereby provide a glass member having stretched metal halide particles dispersed in an aligned manner in a glass matrix, and subjecting the glass member to reduction treatment to reduce the stretched metal halide particles, to thereby provide a polarizing glass sheet. A shape of the glass preform sheet during the down-drawing satisfies a relationship of the following expression:
L.sub.1/W.sub.1≥1.0
where L.sub.1 represents a length between a portion in which a width of the glass preform sheet has changed to 0.8 times an original width and a portion in which the width of the glass preform sheet has changed to 0.2 times the original width W.sub.0, and W.sub.1 represents a length equivalent to 0.5 times the original width W.sub.0 of the glass preform sheet.

A glass composition, a macrocomposite, and methods of forming the macrocomposite including dispersing or immersing a metal in a glass. Preferably, the macrocomposite does not include an organic resin, an adhesive, or a polymer.

Aspects of this disclosure pertain to a colorless material that includes a carrier, copper-containing particles, and either one or both of sodium thiocyanate and titanium dioxide. In one or more embodiments, the material exhibits, in the CIE L*a*b* system, an L* value in the range from about 91 to about 100, and a C* value of less than about 7, wherein C* equals √(a*.sup.2+b*.sup.2). In some embodiments, the material exhibits a greater than 3 log reduction in a concentration of Staphylococcus aureus, under the EPA Test Method for Efficacy of Copper Alloy as a Sanitizer testing conditions.

A lead-free glass paste, a chip resistor and a method for producing the same are provided. The lead-free glass paste includes 6-7 parts by mass of borosilicate oil, 12-21 parts by mass of aluminum oxide powder, 2-3 parts by mass of glass fiber powder, and 0.1-0.5 parts by mass of a curing agent.

An antimicrobial article that includes: an antimicrobial composite region that includes a matrix comprising a polymeric material, and a first plurality of particles within the matrix. The particles include a phase-separable glass with a copper-containing antimicrobial agent. The antimicrobial composite region can be a film containing the first plurality of particles that is subsequently laminated to a bulk element. The first plurality of particles can also be pressed into the film or a bulk element to define an antimicrobial composite region. An exposed surface portion of the antimicrobial composite region can exhibit at least a log 2 reduction in a concentration of at least one of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria under a Modified EPA Copper Test Protocol.

A glass composition, a macrocomposite, and methods of forming the macrocomposite including dispersing or immersing a metal in a glass. Preferably, the macrocomposite does not include an organic resin, an adhesive, or a polymer.

An evaporator is provided that includes a porous sintered body. The porous sintered body is formed by a composite of at least one electrically conductive material and at least one dielectric material. The sintered body has an open porosity in a range from 10 to 90% and an electrical conductivity in a range from 0.1 to 105 S/m. The fraction of electrically conductive material in the sintered body is a maximum of 90 wt. %.

A multilayer coil component includes a component element assembly in which an inner conductor is disposed and an outer electrode disposed on the surface of the component element assembly. The component element assembly includes a first dielectric glass layer in which the inner conductor is embedded and second dielectric glass layers that are thin layers disposed on respective principal surfaces of the first dielectric glass layer. The primary component of each of the first dielectric glass layer and the second dielectric glass layers is formed of a glass material and has a filler component containing at least quartz, and the second dielectric glass layers have a lower quartz content than the first dielectric glass layer.

A glass ceramic that contains a glass containing Si, B, Al, and Zn and aggregates. The glass has a SiO.sub.2 content of 20% by weight to 55% by weight, a B.sub.2O.sub.3 content of 15% by weight to 30% by weight, Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and ZnO, wherein a weight ratio of the SiO.sub.2 to the B.sub.2O.sub.3 (SiO.sub.2/B.sub.2O.sub.3) is 1.21 or higher, and a weight ratio of the Al.sub.2O.sub.3 to the ZnO (Al.sub.2O.sub.3/ZnO) is 0.8 to 1.3. A TiO.sub.2 content, a ZrO.sub.2 content, a SnO.sub.2 content, and a Sr0 content in the glass each are 0% by weight to 5% by weight. The aggregates include 20% by weight to 50% by weight of SiO.sub.2, 1% by weight to 10% by weight of TiO.sub.2, 3% by weight or less of ZrO.sub.2, and 1% by weight or less of ZnO each relative to the weight of the glass ceramic.