This application relates to a method of preparing a composite material for a semiconductor test socket, and a composite material prepared through the method. In one embodiment, the method includes preparing a powder mixture including (i) a metal powder comprising aluminum or aluminum alloy particles and magnesium particles and (ii) a polymer powder. The method may also include sintering the powder mixture to produce the composite material using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. This application also relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor test socket, the method including forming an insulating portion of the semiconductor test socket with the composite material. This application further relates to a semiconductor test socket produced through the method.

Bearing steel comprising cubic boron nitride (c-BN) and/or nickel coated cBN spark plasma sintered at a temperature in the range of 850-1050° C. is disclosed. The tribological and corrosion resistance of the bearing steel improved with increasing the amount of c-BN. Further improvement in the properties was achieved with the incorporation of nickel coated c-BN, which caused a phase transition of the bearing steel from magnetic to non-magnetic phase accompanied by interdiffusion enhancement between the matrix and c-BN reinforcement.

A cubic boron nitride sintered material includes cubic boron nitride and a binder. The binder includes a first material and a second material. The first material is one or two or more first chemical species each including at least one first metallic element selected from the group consisting of tungsten, cobalt, and aluminum. Each of the first chemical species is a metal, an alloy, an intermetallic compound, a compound, or a solid solution. The second material is one or two or more second chemical species each including at least one second metallic element selected from the group consisting of titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, and chromium. Each of the second chemical species is a solid solution derived from at least one selected from the group consisting of nitride, carbide, and carbonitride. In each of the second chemical species, 0.1 atom % to 10 atom % of aluminum is dissolved.

Disclosed herein is a method comprising disposing a container containing a metal and/or ferromagnetic solid and abrasive particles in a static magnetic field; where the container is surrounded by an induction coil; activating the induction coil with an electrical current, to heat up the metallic or ferromagnetic solid to form a fluid; generating sonic energy to produce acoustic cavitation and abrasion between the abrasive particles and the container; and producing nanoparticles that comprise elements from the container, the metal and/or the ferromagnetic solid and the abrasive particles. Disclosed herein too is a composition comprising first metal or a first ceramic; and particles comprising carbides and/or nitrides dispersed therein. Disclosed herein too is a composition comprising nanoparticles comprising chromium carbide, iron carbide, nickel carbide, γ-Fe and magnesium nitride.

A method and device for manufacturing a bevelled stone, particularly for a timepiece are disclosed. A precursor is produced from a mixture of at least one material in powder form with a binder. The method includes pressing the precursor so as to form a green body, using a top die and a bottom die comprising a protruding rib, sintering the green body so as to form a body of the future stone in at least one material, the body including a peripheral face and a bottom face provided with a groove, and machining the body including a substep of planning the peripheral face up to the groove, such that an inner wall of the groove forms at least a flared part of the peripheral face of the stone.

A zirconium nitride powder having a volume resistivity of 107 Ω.Math.cm or more in the state of the pressurized powder body hardened at a pressure of 5 MPa, and a particle size distribution D90 of 10 μm or less when ultrasonically dispersed for 5 minutes in a state of being diluted with water or an alcohol having a carbon number of which is in a range of 2 to 5. Also, the zirconium nitride powder is dispersed in an acrylic monomer or an epoxy monomer to prepare a monomer dispersion. Further, the zirconium nitride powder is dispersed in a dispersing medium as a black pigment and further a resin is mixed to prepare a black composition.

An iron-based sintered alloy material having, at the surface of the material, a hardened layer exhibiting a martensite phase containing a solid solution of nitrogen in a supersaturated state. The iron-based sintered alloy material may contain at least one of chromium, copper, molybdenum, manganese and nickel. A production method for the iron-based sintered alloy material includes: subjecting an iron-based sintered alloy substrate containing carbon to a nitriding treatment by heating the substrate to a nitriding temperature of at least 590° C. in an atmosphere containing ammonia, and then performing quenching by rapidly cooling the substrate.

A sintered friction material is formed by pressure sintering mixed powder at 800° C. or above, the mixed powder consisting of, in mass %, Cu and/or Cu alloy: 40.0 to 80.0%, Ni: 0% or more and less than 5.0%, Sn: 0 to 10.0%, Zn: 0 to 10.0%, VC: 0.5 to 5.0%, Fe and/or Fe alloy: 2.0 to 40.0%, lubricant: 5.0 to 30.0%, metal oxide and/or metal nitride: 1.5 to 30.0%, and the balance being impurity.

A sintered magnet contains Sm—Fe—N-based crystal grains and has high coercivity; and a magnetic powder is capable of forming a sintered magnet without lowering the coercivity even if heat is generated in association with the sintering. A sintered magnet comprises a crystal phase composed of a plurality of Sm—Fe—N-based crystal grains and a nonmagnetic metal phase present between the Sm—Fe—N crystal grains adjacent to each other, wherein a ratio of Fe peak intensity I.sub.Fe to SmFeN peak intensity I.sub.SmFeN measured by an X-ray diffraction method is 0.2 or less. A magnetic powder comprises Sm—Fe—N-based crystal particles and a nonmagnetic metal layer covering surfaces of the Sm—Fe—N crystal particles.

The disclosure discloses a method for preparing a γ′-Fe.sub.4N soft magnetic material by using liquid nitrogen through high-speed ball milling, and belongs to the field of the soft magnetic material. According to the method of the disclosure, high energy in the liquid nitrogen is used for obtaining a nanometer material Fe.sub.xN with a nitrogen atom supersaturation degree through cryogrinding. At a low temperature, the material is very brittle, and a surface volume ratio is very high, so that a content of nitrogen atoms adsorbed on a surface of a sample is as high as 22%. Through 300° C. post-annealing, γ′-Fe.sub.4N is directly obtained from α-Fe through phase change, so that a nanometer crystal γ′-Fe.sub.4N soft magnetic material is prepared. The method of the disclosure has the advantages that an operation is simple and convenient, the cost is low, the large-scale industrialized production can be realized, and the method belongs to a novel alternative method for preparing a high-grade soft magnetic material with ideal magnetism. The γ′-Fe.sub.4N soft magnetic material prepared by the method of the disclosure has the advantages of high Ms, low coercivity and high surface resistivity, and can be used for a transformer and an inductor operated in a high-frequency semiconductor switch.