The main weaknesses of masonry buildings, especially those made of clay, against earthquakes are: high weight, which increases the earthquake force that is proportional to the weight; low resistance that causes an early crushing of walls and ceilings; lack of ductility, which causes the masonry buildings to collapse immediately after cracking. These weaknesses have been the main causes of collapse of masonry buildings in past earthquakes in various parts of the world. Also, many of the restoration works, done on the historical monuments that were made by the mentioned materials, showed their inadequacy in some recent earthquakes This invention improves clay, as an eco-friendly, low-cost material with high workability, to present a better seismic behavior, by decreasing its specific weight to less than tones/m.sup.3 and increasing its tensile resistance up to five times of the ordinary clay, and giving better insulation capabilities against heat, sound and moisture to it.

A ceramic article formed from a plurality of materials, the ceramic article being characterized by the addition of glass fibers having a certain length, diameter and aspect ratio and a method for forming a ceramic article.

A ceramic article formed from a plurality of materials, the ceramic article being characterized by the addition of glass fibers having a certain length, diameter and aspect ratio and a method for forming a ceramic article.

A radon-free ceramic panel includes a mixture including two or more types of stone dust selected from among granite, basalt, limestone, dolomite, elvan, black stone, feldspar, and sandstone, along with waste slag and a non-phenolic adhesive. The ceramic panel is lightweight and has excellent fire resistance, heat insulation, corrosion resistance, water resistance, and ability to act as a bather to radon gas.

Disclosed are a low-shrinkage, high-strength, and large ceramic plate and a manufacturing method thereof. The method comprises the following steps: (1) preparing a ceramic raw material powder; (2) subjecting an acicular wollastonite to surface coating with a silane coupling agent and to pre-dispersion with a fumed silica to obtain a pre-treated acicular wollastonite; and (3) thoroughly mixing the ceramic raw material powder and the pre-treated acicular wollastonite and granulating the resulting mixture, the amount of the pre-treated acicular wollastonite added being 10 wt % to 30 wt % of the ceramic raw material powder, and subjecting the resulting granules to dry pressing and sintering to obtain the large ceramic plate. The acicular wollastonite is incorporated into the manufacturing of the large ceramic plate to take full advantage of the reinforcing effect and low sintering shrinkage characteristics of the acicular wollastonite. The invention reduces sintering shrinkage and increases product strength.

A composition of the wear-resistant material of the present invention includes high-temperature resistant skeleton metal materials, ceramic fiber materials and ceramic particle materials with the mass ratio of (10-60):(1-30):(10-70). The high-temperature resistant skeleton metal materials are foam metal or high-temperature resistant metal fibers. The wear-resistant material is good in wear-resistance, high in tenacity, suitable for occasions with high requirements for wear-resistance and tenacity and capable of being locally attached to the surface of the light metal alloy matrix to improve the wear-resistance and tenacity of the light metal alloy matrix under high temperature conditions. The locally-reinforced light metal matrix composites of the present invention are the light metal alloy matrix locally-reinforced through the wear-resistant material. A manufacturing method of the locally-reinforced light metal matrix composites of the present invention is to metallurgically bond the wear-resistant layer with the light metal alloy matrix is through the squeeze casting technique.

A three-dimensional printed structure can include a photocurable resin, a sinterable material, and a plurality of elongated particles. The elongated particles are distributed within the printed structure. The elongated particles are shaped and distributed to promote porosity control (e.g., improved densification) within the structure.

A radon-free ceramic panel includes a mixture including two or more types of stone dust selected from among granite, basalt, limestone, dolomite, elvan, black stone, feldspar, and sandstone, along with waste slag and a non-phenolic adhesive. The ceramic panel is lightweight and has excellent fire resistance, heat insulation, corrosion resistance, water resistance, and ability to act as a bather to radon gas.

A molded three-dimensional insulator that is suitable for use in an end cone region of a pollution control device and a method of making the insulator are described. The insulator includes ceramic fibers that have a bulk shrinkage no greater than 10 weight percent. The ceramic fibers can contain alumina and silica and can be microcrystalline, crystalline, or a combination thereof.

Disclosed are a low-shrinkage, high-strength, and large ceramic plate and a manufacturing method thereof. The method comprises the following steps: (1) preparing a ceramic raw material powder; (2) subjecting an acicular wollastonite to surface coating with a silane coupling agent and to pre-dispersion with a fumed silica to obtain a pre-treated acicular wollastonite; and (3) thoroughly mixing the ceramic raw material powder and the pre-treated acicular wollastonite and granulating the resulting mixture, the amount of the pre-treated acicular wollastonite added being 10 wt % to 30 wt % of the ceramic raw material powder, and subjecting the resulting granules to dry pressing and sintering to obtain the large ceramic plate. The acicular wollastonite is incorporated into the manufacturing of the large ceramic plate to take full advantage of the reinforcing effect and low sintering shrinkage characteristics of the acicular wollastonite. The invention reduces sintering shrinkage and increases product strength.