A heat-assisted magnetic recording head comprises a near-field transducer (NFT). The NFT comprises a thermally-stabilized plasmonic alloy, wherein the thermally-stabilized plasmonic alloy comprises a plasmonic metal and at least one alloying metal.

A wire comprising a silver-based wire core having a double-layer coating comprised of an inner layer of palladium or nickel and an adjacent outer layer of gold, wherein the wire exhibits at least one of the intrinsic properties A1) to A3): A1) the average grain size of the crystal grains in the wire core, measured in longitudinal direction, is in the range of from 0.7 to 1.1 μm; A2) the fraction of twin boundaries, measured in longitudinal direction of the wire, is in the range of from 5 to 40%; and, A3) 20 to 70% of the crystal grains of the wire core are oriented in <100> direction, and 3 to 40% of the crystal grains of the wire core are oriented in <111> direction, each % with respect to the total number of crystal grains with orientation parallel to the drawing direction of the wire.

A wire comprising a silver-based wire core having a double-layer coating comprised of an inner layer of palladium or nickel and an adjacent outer layer of gold, wherein the wire exhibits at least one of the intrinsic properties A1) to A3): A1) the average grain size of the crystal grains in the wire core, measured in longitudinal direction, is in the range of from 0.7 to 1.1 μm; A2) the fraction of twin boundaries, measured in longitudinal direction of the wire, is in the range of from 5 to 40%; and, A3) 20 to 70% of the crystal grains of the wire core are oriented in <100> direction, and 3 to 40% of the crystal grains of the wire core are oriented in <111> direction, each % with respect to the total number of crystal grains with orientation parallel to the drawing direction of the wire.

The present invention provides compositions and methods of making bimetallic metal alloys of composition for example, Rh/Pd; Rh/Pt; Rh/Ag; Rh/Au; Rh/Ru; Rh/Co; Rh/Ir; Rh/Ni; Ir/Pd; Ir/Pt; Ir/Ag; Ir/Au; Pd/Ni; Pd/Pt; Pd/Ag; Pd/Au; Pt/Ni; Pt/Ag; Pt/Au; Ni/Ag; Ni/Au; or Ag/Au prepared using microwave irradiation.

The present invention provides compositions and methods of making bimetallic metal alloys of composition for example, Rh/Pd; Rh/Pt; Rh/Ag; Rh/Au; Rh/Ru; Rh/Co; Rh/Ir; Rh/Ni; Ir/Pd; Ir/Pt; Ir/Ag; Ir/Au; Pd/Ni; Pd/Pt; Pd/Ag; Pd/Au; Pt/Ni; Pt/Ag; Pt/Au; Ni/Ag; Ni/Au; or Ag/Au prepared using microwave irradiation.

This disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing an electrically conductive thick film comprising steps of: (a) applying a fine silver particle dispersion on a substrate, wherein the fine silver particle dispersion comprises, (i) 60 to 95 wt. % of fine silver particles, wherein particle diameter (D50) of the fine silver particles is 50 to 300 nm, (ii) 4.5 to 39 wt. % of a solvent; and (iii) 0.1 to 3 wt. % of a resin, wherein the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the resin is 70 to 300° C., wherein the weight percentages are based on the weight of the fine silver particle dispersion; and (b) heating the applied fine silver particle dispersion at 80 to 1000° C.

A silver powder which has a small content of carbon and which is difficult to be agglutinated, and a method for producing the same. While a molten metal, which is prepared by melting silver to which 40 ppm or more of copper is added, is allowed to drop, a high-pressure water is sprayed onto the molten metal to rapidly cool and solidify the molten metal to produce a silver powder which contains 40 ppm or more of copper, 0.1% by weight or less of carbon and 0.1% by weight or less of oxygen and wherein the particle diameter (D50 diameter) corresponding to 50% of accumulation in volume-based cumulative distribution of the silver powder, which is measured by means of a laser diffraction particle size analyzer, is in the range of from 1 μm to 15 μm, the average particle diameter (SEM diameter) of single particles being in the range of from 1 μm to 8 μm when it is measured by means of a field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), the ratio (SEM diameter/D50 diameter) of the SEM diameter to the D50 diameter being in the range of from 0.3 to 1.0.

Providing a terminal material for connectors provided with a base material in which at least a surface layer is made of copper or copper alloy, a nickel-plating layer made of nickel or nickel alloy coating a surface of the base material, and a silver-nickel alloy plating layer formed on at least a part of the nickel-plating layer, the silver-nickel alloy plating layer having a film thickness of 0.5 μm to 20 μm inclusive, a nickel content of 0.03 at % to 1.20 at % inclusive, and an average crystal grain size of 10 nm to 150 nm inclusive, to improve abrasion resistance and heat resistance.

Providing a terminal material for connectors provided with a base material in which at least a surface layer is made of copper or copper alloy, a nickel-plating layer made of nickel or nickel alloy coating a surface of the base material, and a silver-nickel alloy plating layer formed on at least a part of the nickel-plating layer, the silver-nickel alloy plating layer having a film thickness of 0.5 μm to 20 μm inclusive, a nickel content of 0.03 at % to 1.20 at % inclusive, and an average crystal grain size of 10 nm to 150 nm inclusive, to improve abrasion resistance and heat resistance.

Provided are silver particles including a silver powder and a silver layer that includes primary particles, the primary particles being smaller than the silver powder.