A manganese-zinc ferrite with a high magnetic permeability at negative temperature and low loss at high temperature consists of Fe.sub.2O.sub.3, MnO and ZnO, and additives consisting of CaCO.sub.3, ZrO.sub.2, Co.sub.2O.sub.3 and SnO.sub.2 are also added. A method for preparing the manganese-zinc ferrite is further provided. According to the method, by reasonably adjusting a ratio of Mn to Zn to Fe and appropriately increasing the content of Co in the additives, a manganese-zinc ferrite material with both a high magnetic permeability and low loss at about −20° C. and low loss at 120-140° C. is obtained. The manganese-zinc ferrite material has two loss valleys at about −20° C. and about 100° C. in a temperature range of −30° C. to 140° C., which expands the application range of the manganese-zinc ferrite material.

Coated zirconia fine particle containing a zirconia fine particle and a coating layer coating the surface of the fine particle. The coating layer includes one or more metal elements selected from Mg, Ca, Al and rare-earth elements, and the coated zirconia fine particle has an average particle size of 3 to 100 nm and a specific surface area of 20 to 500 m.sup.2/g.

Setter plates are fabricated from Li-stuffed garnet materials having the same, or substantially similar, compositions as a garnet Li-stuffed solid electrolyte. The Li-stuffed garnet setter plates, set forth herein, reduce the evaporation of Li during a sintering treatment step and/or reduce the loss of Li caused by diffusion out of the sintering electrolyte. Li-stuffed garnet setter plates, set forth herein, maintain compositional control over the solid electrolyte during sintering when, upon heating, lithium is prone to diffuse out of the solid electrolyte.

The present invention provides a high thermal conductive silicon nitride sintered body having a thermal conductivity of 50 W/m.Math.K or more and a three-point bending strength of 600 MPa or more, wherein when an arbitrary cross section of the silicon nitride sintered body is subjected to XRD analysis and highest peak intensities detected at diffraction angles of 29.3±0.2°, 29.7±0.2°, 27.0±0.2°, and 36.1±0.2° are expressed as I.sub.29.3°, I.sub.29.7°, I.sub.27.0°, and I.sub.36.1°, a peak ratio (I.sub.29.3°)/(I.sub.27.0°+I.sub.36.1°) satisfies a range of 0.01 to 0.08, and a peak ratio (I.sub.29.7°)/(I.sub.27.0°+I.sub.36.1°) satisfies a range of 0.02 to 0.16. Due to above configuration, there can be provided a silicon nitride sintered body having a high thermal conductivity of 50 W/m.Math.K or more, and excellence in insulating properties and strength.

A novel metal oxide or a novel sputtering target is provided. A sputtering target includes a conductive material and an insulating material. The insulating material includes an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride including an element M1. The element M1 is one or more kinds of elements selected from Al, Ga, Si, Mg, Zr, Be, and B. The conductive material includes an oxide, a nitride, or an oxynitride including indium and zinc. A metal oxide film is deposited using the sputtering target in which the conductive material and the insulating material are separated from each other.

The production of a device for holding one or more electrodes for electrical discharge machining, comprising a body having a rectilinear portion in which at least one first duct is provided for the passage of one or more electrode(s). The body further has an integral curved portion in which (at least) one second curved dielectric fluid supply duct is provided and in which is provided a curved extension of said at least one first duct. The curved extension and the second curved duct are made of ceramic, with an inner mean roughness of: Ra<2 μm.

Provided is an inorganic structure including a plurality of zirconium silicate particles; and a binding part that covers a surface of each of the zirconium silicate particles and binds the zirconium silicate particles together. The binding part contains an amorphous compound containing silicon, a metallic element other than silicon, and oxygen, and contains substantially no alkali metal, B, V, Te, P, Bi, Pb and Zn. Also provided is a method for producing an inorganic structure including: a step for obtaining a mixture by mixing a plurality of zirconium silicate particles, a plurality of amorphous silicon dioxide particles, and an aqueous solution containing a metallic element other than silicon; and a step for pressurizing and heating the mixture under conditions of a pressure of 10 to 600 MPa and a temperature of 50 to 300° C.

To provide a sliding member having improved wear resistance, and a method of manufacturing the sliding member. A femoral head ball according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a composite ceramic containing alumina and at least one oxide other than alumina. A surface roughness Ra of the sliding surface when the femoral head ball slides against a constituent member constituting an artificial joint is not more than 0.01 μm. The sliding surface includes a plurality of recessed portions each having an opening diameter of not more than 2 μm.

An aerospace component may comprise a fiber reinforced composite material. The fiber reinforced composite material includes a plurality of fiber layers and a carbon matrix surrounding the plurality of fiber layers. A plurality of ceramic particles is dispersed in the carbon matrix. A first fiber layer of the plurality of fiber layers may include a carbon fiber, and a second fiber layer of the plurality of fiber layers may include a non-carbon fiber. A hardness of the non-carbon fiber is greater than a hardness of carbon fiber.

Nuclear fuel structures and methods for fabricating are disclosed herein. The nuclear fuel structure includes a plurality of fibers arranged in the structure and a multilayer fuel region within at least one fiber of the plurality of fibers. The multilayer fuel region includes an inner layer region made of a nuclear fuel material, and an outer layer region encasing the nuclear fuel material. A plurality of discrete multilayer fuel regions may be formed over a core region along the at least one fiber, the plurality of discrete multilayer fuel regions having a respective inner layer region of nuclear fuel material and a respective outer layer region encasing the nuclear fuel material. The plurality of fibers may be wrapped around an inner rod or tube structure or inside an outer tube structure of the nuclear fuel structure, providing both structural support and the nuclear fuel material of the nuclear fuel structure.