A ball for a ball valve, wherein the ball comprises a substrate of metal having surface modified portions to act as seating surfaces for a seat of the ball valve; and a seat ring for a ball valve, wherein the seat ring comprises a substrate of metal having a surface modified portion to act as a seating surface for a ball of the ball valve.

An antimicrobial and adhesion-proof titanium tableware and a manufacturing method of the same are provided. The antimicrobial and adhesion-proof titanium tableware is made of a titanium substrate, and includes a contact portion and an oxidation layer structure. The contact portion is used for contacting foods, food ingredients, drinking water, beverages, or body parts of a user. The oxidation layer structure is formed on one part of a surface of the titanium substrate corresponding to the contact portion. The titanium substrate is made of titanium in α phase, and the oxidation layer structure is a titanium dioxide film in a rutile crystalline form. The oxidation layer structure has a roughened surface and an oxygen diffusion layer formed at an interface of the oxidation layer structure and the titanium substrate.

The present invention aims at providing an iron-nitrogen-based soft magnetic steel sheet having a saturation magnetic flux density higher than that of pure iron, a method for manufacturing the soft magnetic steel sheet, and a core and a dynamo-electric machine in which the soft magnetic steel sheet is used. The soft magnetic steel sheet according to the present invention includes C, N, and the balance of Fe and inevitable impurities and is comprised of an α phase, an α′ phase, an α″ phase, and a γ phase. The α phase serves as a main phase, a volume ratio of the α″ phase is 10% or more, and a volume ratio of the γ phase is 5% or less. The core according to the present invention includes a laminated body of the soft magnetic steel sheets.

A method of producing a case hardened workpiece of a Group IV metal including: placing a workpiece of a Group IV metal in a vessel, creating a low pressure environment in the vessel in which the pressure, pvac, is less than or equal to 10-5 bar, providing oxygen to the vessel to create a reactive atmosphere in the vessel, the reactive atmosphere comprising oxygen at a partial pressure, pO2, in the range of 10 5 bar to 0.01 bar, heating the workpiece to a hardening temperature in the range of 650° C. to 800° C. in the reactive atmosphere or before the reactive atmosphere is created, maintaining the workpiece in the reactive atmosphere at the hardening temperature for a reactive period of at least 5 hours, cooling the workpiece from the hardening temperature to ambient temperature in the reactive atmosphere or in an inert atmosphere.

A method and apparatus for nitride capping of titanium materials via chemical vapor deposition techniques is provided. The method includes forming a titanium nitride layer upon a titanium material layer formed on a substrate. The titanium nitride layer is formed by exposing the titanium material layer to a hydrogen-rich nitrogen-containing plasma followed by exposing the titanium material layer to a nitrogen-rich nitrogen-containing plasma. The titanium nitride layer is then exposed to an argon plasma followed by exposing the titanium nitride layer to a halide soak process.

A method and apparatus for nitride capping of titanium materials via chemical vapor deposition techniques is provided. The method includes forming a titanium nitride layer upon a titanium material layer formed on a substrate. The titanium nitride layer is formed by exposing the titanium material layer to a hydrogen-rich nitrogen-containing plasma followed by exposing the titanium material layer to a nitrogen-rich nitrogen-containing plasma. The titanium nitride layer is then exposed to an argon plasma followed by exposing the titanium nitride layer to a halide soak process.

An external element made from a first material for a wearable object, the first material being an insulating ceramic, wherein a surface of the external element is at least partially treated to include at least one conversion with an electrical conductivity.

A grain oriented electrical steel sheet includes: a base steel sheet; a lower layer which is arranged in contact with the base steel sheet; and an insulation coating which is arranged in contact with the lower layer and which includes a phosphate and a colloidal silica as main components. The base steel sheet includes the predetermined chemical composition and includes a B compound whose major axis length is 1 to 20 μm and whose number density is 1×10 to 1×10.sup.6 pieces/mm.sup.3. The lower layer is a glass film which includes a forsterite as main component or an intermediate layer includes a silicon oxide as main component.

A grain oriented electrical steel sheet includes: a base steel sheet; a glass film which is arranged in contact with the base steel sheet; and an insulation coating which is arranged in contact with the glass film and which includes a phosphate and a colloidal silica as main components. The base steel sheet includes the predetermined chemical composition. A BN whose average particle size is 50 to 300 nm is included at a predetermined number density in a region which is from an interface between the glass film and the insulation coating till 5 μm toward the base steel sheet in a depth direction. A B emission intensity obtained inside the glass film is more than a B emission intensity obtained inside the base steel sheet, when a B emission intensity is measured from a surface of the insulation coating by a glow discharge emission spectroscopy.

A carburized steel component, comprising a steel base including, by weight percent, from 0.08% to 0.35% carbon, 0.5% to 1.3% manganese, 0% to 0.35% silicon, 0.2% to 2.0% chromium, 0% to 4% nickel, 0% to 0.50% molybdenum, 0% to 0.06% niobium, and a remaining weight percent of iron, and a carburized layer of above 0.35% by weight carbon from a surface of the carburized layer to a carburized layer depth, wherein the carburized layer depth is from 0.5 mm to 3.0 mm, wherein the carburized layer comprises a microstructure including martensite, retained austenite, carbide, and less than 2% by volume non-martensitic transformation products (NMTP), and wherein the carburized layer includes a prior austenite average grain size of 3.0-8.0 microns from the surface to a depth of at least 0.2 mm.