According to the present invention, a dense composite material includes titanium silicide in an amount of 43 to 63 mass %; silicon carbide in an amount less than the mass percentage of the titanium silicide; and titanium carbide in an amount less than the mass percentage of the titanium silicide. In the dense composite material, a maximum value of interparticle distances of the silicon carbide is 40 μm or less, a standard deviation of the interparticle distances is 10 or less, and an open porosity of the dense composite material is 1% or less.

A ceramic electronic component includes a multilayer chip having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and including a first multilayer structure and a second multilayer structure disposed on each of top and bottom faces of the first multilayer structure, the first multilayer structure including first ceramic dielectric layers having a first width in a first direction in which side faces of the multilayer chip are opposite to each other, the second multilayer structure including second internal electrode layers having a second width less than the first width in the first direction, and a pair of external electrodes formed from the respective two edge faces to at least one of side faces of the multilayer chip, wherein main components of the first and second internal electrode layers differ from a main component of the external electrodes.

Provided is at least any of a layered body, which has a change in texture derived from zirconia, particularly a change in translucency and is suitable as a dental prosthetic member, a precursor thereof, or a method for producing these. There is provided a layered body having a structure in which two or more layers containing zirconia containing a stabilizer are layered, the layered body including at least: a first layer containing zirconia having a stabilizer content of higher than or equal to 4 mol %; and a second layer containing zirconia having a stabilizer content different from that of the zirconia contained in the first layer.

Provided are novel high entropy nitrides (HENs) exhibiting excellent physical and chemical properties. Also provided are systems and methods to synthesize bulk HENs by reaction flash sintering. Commercial metal nitride powders can be consolidated into near fully dense single-phase bulk ceramic with a proprietary flash sintering apparatus. A constant DC electrical field of ˜80 V/cm and pressure of ˜15 MPa at room temperature can trigger reaction flash sintering without pre-heating, and the entire process can finish in ˜250 seconds to ˜400 seconds.

The invention relates to a method for producing a non-oxide ceramic powder comprising a nitride, a carbide, a boride or at least one MAX phase with the general composition Mn+1AXn, where M=at least one element from the group of transition elements (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf and Ta), A=at least one A group element from the group (Si, Al, Ga, Ge, As, Cd, In, Sn, Tl and Pb), X=carbon (C) and/or nitrogen (N) and/or boron (B), and n=1, 2 or 3. According to the invention, corresponding quantities of elementary starting materials or other precursors are mixed with at least one metal halide salt (NZ), compressed (pellet), and heated for synthesis with a metal halide salt (NZ). The compressed pellet is first enveloped with another metal halide salt, compressed again, arranged in a salt bath and heated therewith until the melting temperature of the salt is exceeded. Optionally, melted silicate can be added, which prevents the salt from evaporating at high temperatures. Advantageously, the method can be carried out in the presence of air.

It is demanded that a LTCC substrate composition capable of maintaining low relative permittivity k and high Q value without having a reactivity with a silver which is an electrode material and causing migration of the silver during a co-firing operation at a low temperature. Provided with a low temperature co-fired substrate composition containing 83 to 91 wt. % of CaO-B.sub.2O.sub.3-SiO.sub.2 based glass powder, 7.5 to 14 wt. % of two or more kinds of nanometer-sized SiO.sub.2 powders having different ranges of particle diameter and 1.5 to 3 wt. % of β-wollastonite powder as a crystallization agent wherein the glass powder contains 40.0 to 45.0 wt. % of CaO, 9.0 to 20.0 wt. % of B.sub.2O.sub.3 and 40.0 to 46.0 wt. % of SiO.sub.2.

The present disclosure relates to a micromesh proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. In one embodiment, a process for forming proppant particles includes providing a slurry comprising a ceramic raw material containing alumina, atomizing the slurry into droplets, coating seeds comprising alumina with the droplets to form green pellets, sintering the green pellets to form sintered pellets, and breaking the sintered pellets to form proppant particles comprising a sintered ceramic material and having a size of from about 150 mesh to about 500 mesh and a crush strength at 7,500 psi of from about 1% to about 20%. In one embodiment, a proppant particle includes a sintered ceramic material and having a size of from about 150 mesh to about 500 mesh and a crush strength at 7,500 psi of from about 1% to about 20%.

A preform intended for the production of a dental prosthesis. The preform includes a group of agglomerated ceramic, glass-ceramic or glass particles, such that, as volume percents: more than 40% and less than 90% of the particles of said group have a size greater than 0.5 μm and less than 3.5 μm, said particles hereinafter being denoted “enamel particles”, and more than 10% and less than 60% of the particles of said group have a size greater than 3.5 μm and less than 5.5 μm, said particles hereinafter being denoted “dentine particles.” The microstructure of the preform is such that there is an axis X, termed “axis of variation”, along which the Ve/(Ve+Vd) ratio changes continuously, Ve and Vd denoting the volume percents of enamel particles and of dentine particles, respectively. The enamel and dentine particles representing, together, more than 90% of the volume of the agglomerated particles.

A layered body, which has a change in texture derived from zirconia, particularly a change in translucency and is suitable as a dental prosthetic member, a precursor thereof, or a method for producing these. The layered body has a structure in which two or more layers containing zirconia containing a stabilizer are layered, the layered body including at least: a first layer containing zirconia having a stabilizer content of higher than or equal to 4 mol %; and a second layer containing zirconia having a stabilizer content different from that of the zirconia contained in the first layer. At least one layer contains one or more elements capable of coloring zirconia.

A dielectric ceramic composition comprising a main component comprising an oxide represented by:
U.sub.aX.sub.bY.sub.cZ.sub.d((Ca.sub.1-x-ySr.sub.xM.sub.y).sub.m(Zr.sub.1-u-vTi.sub.uHf.sub.v)O.sub.3).sub.1-a-b-c-d
wherein the elements defined by U, X, Y, Z and M and subscripts a, b, c, d, x, y, m, u and v are defined.