A separator is placed on a surface of a substrate to prepare a test piece. A puncturing tool is stuck into the separator, from a side of the test piece opposite to where the substrate is placed, in a thickness direction of the separator. An electrical resistance between the puncturing tool and the substrate is measured. The separator is evaluated based on a magnitude of a load applied to the puncturing tool at the time when the electrical resistance has decreased to a predetermined value. Each of the substrate and the puncturing tool is electrically conductive.

A method for estimating characteristics of a ceramic fired body, the method including: preparing a ceramic fired body by firing a formed green body; measuring a color of the ceramic fired body; and with use of a correlation between the color and at least one characteristic selected from a group consisting of a porosity, a pore diameter, and a thermal expansion coefficient previously determined for a ceramic fired body having a same composition as that of the ceramic fired body, estimating the at least one characteristic of the ceramic fired body from the color of the ceramic fired body, measured in the previous step.

The disclosure describes techniques for detecting a crack or defect in a material. The technique may include applying an electrical signal to a first electrode pair electrically coupled to the material. The technique also may include, while applying the electrical signal to the first electrode pair, determining a measured voltage between a second, different electrode pair. At least one electrode of the second, different electrode pair is electrically coupled to the material. The technique may further include determining a corrected measured voltage by suppressing a thermally induced voltage from the measured voltage and determining whether the material includes a crack or other defect based on the corrected measured voltage.

A non-destructive testing method for flexural strength of fine ceramic, an apparatus, and a storage medium, including adjusting an uncut intact fine ceramic test sample to an ultrasonic testing position, and fixing the test sample; adjusting an ultrasonic testing instrument, controlling and adjusting the positions of ultrasonic testing probes of the ultrasonic testing instrument until the ultrasonic testing probes, the fine ceramic test sample and the resiling direction are located on the same plane, performing ultrasonic testing on the test sample, and collecting ultrasonic testing data of the test sample; adjusting the position of the fine ceramic test sample until a resilience testing rod and the test sample are located on the same plane and fixed, performing resilience testing on the test sample, and collecting resilience testing data of the test sample; and building a data model, or substituting testing data into the pre-built data model.

A method for testing the internal structure of a refractory part, has the following steps: a) by a transmission antenna, sending at least one electromagnetic wave, termed a “pulse”, into the refractory part to be tested; b) by a reception antenna, receiving the pulse after reflection thereof by a reflecting zone of the refractory part; c) analyzing the time offset between the two preceding steps in order to deduce the position, in the refractory part, of the reflecting zone, the pulse having a duration less than or equal to 0.5 nanoseconds.

Disclosed is an improved system and method to evaluate the status of a material. The system and method are operative to identify flaws and measure the erosion profile and thickness of different materials, including refractory materials, using electromagnetic waves. The system is designed to reduce a plurality of reflections, associated with the propagation of electromagnetic waves launched into the material under evaluation, by a sufficient extent so as to enable detection of electromagnetic waves of interest reflected from remote discontinuities of the material. Furthermore, the system and method utilize a configuration and signal processing techniques that reduce clutter and enable the isolation of electromagnetic waves of interest. Moreover, the launcher is impedance matched to the material under evaluation, and the feeding mechanism is designed to mitigate multiple reflection effects to further suppress clutter.

A method for testing a ceramic component for a fracture toughness includes changing the temperature of the component to a first temperature, for example, by heating the component, and changing the temperature of the component to a second temperature, for example, by cooling the component and testing the component for cracks. The temperature difference between the first temperature and the second temperature is determined based on a minimum fracture toughness.

Provided are a sintered ceramic and a ceramic sphere which are inhibited from suffering surface peeling due to fatigue resulting from repetitions of loading and can attain an improvement in dimensional accuracy when subjected to surface processing and which have excellent wear resistance and durability.

A ceramic body for dental prosthesis can suppress a variation in quality in the sole ceramic body for dental prosthesis due to expansion of its diameter. The ceramic body for dental prosthesis is made of a ceramic material, is shaped to have a circular planar shape and a disk-like external shape, and has a diameter of 50 mm or more. The method for manufacturing this ceramic body for dental prosthesis includes: preparing a ceramic material; shaping the ceramic material by press shaping or by a machine tool; temporarily sintering the ceramic material at a temperature from a sintering temperature that provides theoretical density −700° C. or more to the sintering temperature −100° C. or less; and shaping the ceramic material to have a circular planar shape and a disk-like external shape so as to prepare the ceramic body for dental prosthesis having a diameter of 50 mm or more.

Some aspects of what is described here relate to analyzing a well cement slurry. In some aspects, a well cement slurry is mixed in a mixer under a plurality of conditions. The plurality of conditions correspond to a plurality of distinct Reynolds number values for the well cement slurry in the mixer. Power number values associated with mixing the well cement slurry in the mixer under the plurality of conditions are identified. Each power number value is based on an amount of energy used to mix the well cement slurry under a respective one of the plurality of conditions. Values for parameters of a functional relationship between power number and Reynolds number are identified based on the power number values and the Reynolds number values for the plurality of conditions.