The invention discloses a process for producing dental shaped parts which consists entirely of porous glass without crystalline portions. The density of the blank is between 50% and 95% of its theoretical density. It has a discoidal shape with a diameter of at least 20 mm.

The blank is produced by a process in which glass powder is first pressed at a pressure of between 10 MPa and 300 MPa and this green body is (pre-)sintered at a temperature of between 580° C. and 750° C. to form a blank of porous glass without crystalline portions.

From the obtained blank, monolithic dental shaped parts can be obtained by mechanical processing followed by sintering, wherein a process according to the invention for stabilizing the shape of the shaped parts is used.

The present invention is directed to synthetic attachment discs made from adhesive nanofibers and/or microfibers that are capable of attaching long fibers to a wide variety of surfaces, and related methods for forming and using them. The synthetic attachment discs of the present invention use very little material relative to prior art systems, while producing a very strong attachment force. Experimental and theoretical evidence are provided to confirm the advantages of thousands of micron-size ‘staple-pins’ and their low peeling angles to enhance the adhesive forces required to peel the synthetic attachment discs. The present invention provides a unique strategy for designing new adhesives that use very little material for various biomedical and material science applications.

A method for fabricating custom surface reflectance and spatially-varying bi-directional reflectance distribution functions (BDRFs or svBRDFs). The 3D printing method optimizes micro-geometry to produce a normal distribution function (NDF) that can be printed on surfaces with a 3D printer. Particularly, the method involves optimizing the micro-geometry for a wide range of analytic NDFs and simulating the effective reflectance of the resulting surface. Using the results of the simulation, the appearance of an input svBRDF can be reproduced. To this end, the micro-geometry is optimized in a data-driven fashion and distributed on the surface of the printed object. The methods were demonstrated to allow 3D printing svBRDF on planar samples with current 3D printing technology even with a limited set of printing materials, and the described methods have been shown to be naturally extendable to printing svBRDF on arbitrary shapes or 3D objects.

Disclosed are devices and methodologies for cleaning wafers in wafer processing operations such as solvent cleaning. In an example situation, a wafer that has been separated from a support plate can be cleaned. The wafer still needs to be handled carefully during such a cleaning operation. Various devices and methodologies that facilitate efficient handling of wafers and solvent cleaning operations are disclosed.

Quality of a silicon carbide single crystal is improved. A crucible having first and second sides is prepared. A solid source material for growing silicon carbide with a sublimation method is arranged on the first side. A seed crystal made of silicon carbide is arranged on the second side. The crucible is arranged in a heat insulating container. The heat insulating container has an opening facing the second side. The crucible is heated such that the solid source material sublimes. A temperature on the second side is measured through the opening in the heat insulating container. The opening has a tapered inner surface narrowed toward the outside of the heat insulating container.

A metal workpiece, such as a wheel, and a method of providing an enhanced corrosion resistant surface coating on an exposed surface of a metal or alloy substrate (such as magnesium). A corrosion resistance basecoat is formed, including generating an oxide layer, and applying a first primer coating onto at least a portion of the oxide layer. The method may further include identifying highest corrosion prone areas on the substrate and designing a support rack that avoids contact with these corrosion prone areas. The method also includes forming a topcoat over at least a portion of the basecoat, by applying a second primer coating onto at least a portion of the first primer coating and depositing a sputtered metallic film onto the second primer coating using a physical vapor deposition technique. A clear coat layer may be applied over the metallic film.

A method is disclosed for producing a high quality bulk single crystal of silicon carbide in a seeded growth system by reducing the separation between a silicon carbide seed crystal and a seed holder until the conductive heat transfer between the seed crystal and the seed holder dominates the radiative heat transfer between the seed crystal and the seed holder over substantially the entire seed crystal surface that is adjacent the seed holder.

A fluorocarbon resin composite includes a fluorocarbon resin layer on a base, in which a fluorocarbon resin constituting the fluorocarbon resin layer is crosslinked by electron beam irradiation, and the base has a desired shape obtained by machining. The fluorocarbon resin is composed of a tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer, polytetrafluoroethylene, or a mixture of the tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer and polytetrafluoroethylene. A fluorocarbon resin composite, cookware, and a roller and a belt for use in office automation equipment are each produced by applying an uncrosslinked fluorocarbon resin on a base, subjecting the fluorocarbon resin to electron beam irradiation in a low-oxygen atmosphere to crosslink the fluorocarbon resin while the temperature of the fluorocarbon resin is maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the fluorocarbon resin, and machining the base into a desired shape. There is also provided methods for producing them.

A graphene sheet including an intercalation compound and 2 to about 300 unit graphene layers, wherein each of the unit graphene layers includes a polycyclic aromatic molecule in which a plurality of carbon atoms in the polycyclic aromatic molecule are covalently bonded to each other; and wherein the intercalation compound is interposed between the unit graphene layers.

An SiC crystal (10) has Fe concentration not higher than 0.1 ppm and Al concentration not higher than 100 ppm. A method of manufacturing an SiC crystal includes the following steps. SiC powders for polishing are prepared as a first source material (17). A first SiC crystal (11) is grown by sublimating the first source material (17) through heating and precipitating an SiC crystal. A second source material (12) is formed by crushing the first SiC crystal (11). A second SiC crystal (14) is grown by sublimating the second source material (12) through heating and precipitating an SiC crystal. Thus, an SiC crystal and a method of manufacturing an SiC crystal capable of achieving suppressed lowering in quality can be obtained.