A ceramic joined body (1) includes: a pair of ceramic plates (2,3) that include a conductive material; a conductive layer (4) and an insulating layer (5) that are interposed between the pair of ceramic plates (2, 3); and a pair of intermediate layers (6, 7) that are interposed between the pair of ceramic plates (2, 3) and the conductive layer (4) and are in contact with the pair of ceramic plates (2, 3) and the conductive layer (4).

A method of making a ceramic composite component includes providing a fibrous preform or a plurality of fibers, providing a first plurality of particles, coating the first plurality of particles with a coating to produce a first plurality of coated particles, delivering the first plurality of coated particles to the fibrous preform or to an outer surface of the plurality of fibers, and converting the first plurality of coated particles into refractory compounds. The first plurality of particles or the coating comprises a refractory metal.

A cubic boron nitride sintered material includes: 0 to 85 volume % of cubic boron nitride grains; and a binder phase, wherein the binder phase includes at least one selected from a group consisting of one or more first compounds and a solid solution originated from the first compounds, the cubic boron nitride grains include, on number basis, more than or equal to 50% of cubic boron nitride grains each having an equivalent circle diameter of more than 0.5 μm, and includes, on number basis, less than or equal to 50% of cubic boron nitride grains each having an equivalent circle diameter of more than 2 μm, and when a mass of the cubic boron nitride grains is assumed as 100 mass %, a total content of lithium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, beryllium, and barium in the cubic boron nitride grains is less than 0.001 mass %.

A process for manufacturing a friction component made of composite material, includes the densification of a fibrous preform of carbon yarns by a matrix including at least pyrocarbon and at least one ZrO.sub.xC.sub.y phase, where 1≤x≤2 and 0≤y≤1, the matrix being formed by chemical vapor infiltration at least from a first gaseous precursor of pyrocarbon and a second gaseous precursor including zirconium, the second precursor being an alcohol or a C.sub.1 to C.sub.6 polyalcohol modified by linking the oxygen atom of at least one alcohol function to a group of formula —Zr—R.sub.3, the substituents R being identical or different, and R being selected from: —H, C.sub.1 to C.sub.5 carbon chains and halogen atoms.

A ceramic joined body (1) includes: a pair of ceramic plates (2,3) that include a conductive material; and a conductive layer (4) and an insulating layer (5) that are interposed between the pair of ceramic plates (2, 3), a porosity at an interface between the pair of ceramic plates (2, 3) and the insulating layer (5) is 4% or less, and a ratio of an average primary particle diameter of an insulating material which forms the insulating layer (5) to an average primary particle diameter of an insulating material which forms the ceramic plates (2, 3) is more than 1.

A silicon nitride sintered body includes at least one black portion with a major axis of 10 μm or more in a field of view with a unit area of 5 mm×5 mm, when observing an arbitrary cross-section of the silicon nitride sintered body using a metallurgical microscope. A major axis of the black portion is Preferably 500 μm or less. The number of the black portion within the field of view with a unit area of 5 mm×5 mm is preferably 2 or more and 10 or less. A segregation portion of Fe is preferably included in the black portion.

Ultra-high temperature carbide (UHTC) foams and methods of fabricating and using the same are provided. The UHTC foams are produced in a three-step process, including UHTC slurry preparation, freeze-drying, and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The fabrication methods allow for the production of any kind of single- or multi-component UHTC foam, while also providing flexibility in the shape and size of the UHTC foams to produce near-net-shape components.

A composite precursor powder, including one or more metals or metalloids, and one or more oxides, wherein a molar ratio of the one or more metals or metalloids to the one or more oxides is from about 1:0.01 to about 1:4, and wherein the molar ratio of the one or more metals or metalloids to the one or more oxides is configured according to a desired volumetric change of the composite precursor powder when converted to a non-oxide ceramic.

To reduce size and mass of a nuclear reactor system, an integrated in-vessel shield separates the role of a neutron reflector and a neutron shield. Nuclear reactor system includes a pressure vessel including an interior wall and a nuclear reactor core located within the interior wall of the pressure vessel. Nuclear reactor core includes a plurality of fuel elements and at least one moderator element. Nuclear reactor system includes a reflector located inside the pressure vessel that includes a plurality of reflector blocks laterally surrounding the plurality of fuel elements and the at least one moderator element. Nuclear reactor system includes the in-vessel shield located on the interior wall of the pressure vessel to surround the reflector blocks. In-vessel shield is formed of two or more neutron absorbing materials. The two more neutron absorbing materials include a near black neutron absorbing material and a gray neutron absorbing material.

A cermet contains hard phase particles containing Ti and a binding phase containing at least one of Ni and Co, and 70% or more (by number) of the hard phase particles have a cored structure containing a core and a peripheral portion around the core. The core is composed mainly of at least one of Ti carbide, Ti nitride, and Ti carbonitride, and the peripheral portion is composed mainly of a Ti composite compound containing Ti and at least one selected from W, Mo, Ta, Nb, and Cr. The core has an average particle size α, the peripheral portion has an average particle size β, and α and β satisfy 1.1≦β/α≦1.7.