For precise property control of sintered products, it is important to understand accurately the packing density of the powder. We developed a packing simulation program that could make a packed bed of spherical particles having particle size distribution. In addition, the influence of the particle shape of the actual powder on the packing density was quantitatively analyzed. The predicted packing densities corresponded well to the actual data.

In order to investigate 95% retained critical current of Bi-2223/Ag tapes under various stress-strain conditions, load cell attached tension and bending apparatus was used. The critical current of stress-strained tape was degraded below 95% retained critical current when tension and bending was simultaneously applied together. But only one of this tension or bending did not degrade the tape below 95% retained critical current. Deformation temperature was important to maintain the 95% retained Ic of Bi-2223/Ag tapes after bending or tension deformation because mechanical strength of tapes can be changed drastically between room temperature and 77 K.

Five kinds of double stacked 385 (55 x7) filamentary Bi2212/Ag round wires and 55 filamentary tapes with different Ag ratios (silver area/superconductor area) have been fabricated via PIT method, and the effects of Ag ratio and processing factors on critical current density were studied. The effects of the maximum temperature and average filament diameter on critical current density were also studied. The wire of 0.74 mm diameter having Ag ratio 3.7 showed critical current density of at 4.2 K, 0 T.

The p-type Te functional gradient material (FGM) was fabricated by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed and the 0.5 at% powders. Also, the n-type FGM was processed by hot-pressing the mechanically alloyed and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe powders. With larger than , the p-type FGM exhibited larger thermoelectric output power than those of the and the 0.5 at% alloys. For the n-type FGM, the thermoelectric output power superior to those of the and the 0.3 wt% Bi-doped PbTe was predicted at larger than .

TZM alloy having elongated coarse-grain structure was developed by three-step internal nitriding treatment at 1423 to 1873 K in and subsequent recrystallization treatment at 2173 K in vacuum. Some specimens were subjected to re-nitriding treatment at 1873 K for 16 h. After the recrystallization treatment, aspect ratio (L/W) of grains for rolling direction was about 50 at the maximum. Yield stress obtained at 1773 K after re-nitriding treatment was about 6 times as large as that of recrystallized specimen. Re-nitriding was very effective in the improvement in strength of TZM alloy having elongated coarse-grain structure.

In order to overcome the recrystallization embrittlement and irradiation embrittlement of Mo, which are major problems for its fusion applications, internally nitrided Mo alloys were prepared by a novel multi-step internal nitriding. Neutron irradiation was performed in the Japan Material Testing Reactor (JMTR). After irradiation, nitrided Mo alloys exhibited ower ductile-brittle transition temperature than irradiated TZM. These results suggested that multi-step internal nitriding was effective to the improvement in the embrittlement by irradiation. Transmission electron microscope observation revealed that TiN particles precipitated by nitriding acted as a sink for irradiation-induced defects.

For pure Molybdenum carburized in mixed gases of argon and carbon monoxide, microstructural observations were carried out. X-ray diffraction analysis for carburized specimens revealed that brittle - layer hardly formed in the case of low carbon monoxide concentration. Fracture strength of the specimen carburized at 1673 K for 16 h is about 550 MPa higher than that of the un-carburized specimen. SEM observation revealed that with increasing carburizing temperature, the region demonstrating a transgranular fracture mode progressed towards the center of specimen. This result means that the grain boundaries were strengthened by the grain boundary diffusion of carbon and the strength of grain boundaries exceeded that of grain itself.

Internally nitrided dilute W-Ti alloy specimens having a heavily deformed surface microstructure were prepared by a multi-step internal nitriding at 1573-2073 K. Primary nitriding below their recrystallization temperature induced a precipitation of ultrafine TiN particles. After secondary and tertiary nitriding, those precipitates grew into rod-like TiN with a length of 20-60 nm. The recrystallization temperature after nitriding was elevated above 2073 K. The yield strength at 1773 K obtained from nitrided W-0.5 mass% Ti alloy was about 5 times as large as that of the recrystallized specimen. DBTT of the nitrided alloys was about 373 K.

The oxidation of (W,Mo) powders has been investigated at 400, 500 and for 12.0 hours in air. It was shown that the low temperature oxidation resistance of (W,Mo) was worse than that of , and they showed great changes in mass, volume and colour. Especialy at , the amount of volume expansion of (W,Mo) was as high as about times and color changed from black to yellow after 4.0h with , , (W,Mo) and amorphous as main reaction products. The mass gain and oxidation rate were relatively slower at and than that at .

The coating of conductive polypyrrole (Ppy) on nonconductive ceramic substrates was performed by polymerization of pyrrole (Py) in an aqueous solution. The Ppy film was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and conductivity measurements. Electrophoretic deposition of bimodal alumina suspension prepared with a phosphate ester was performed using Ppy film as a cathode. Fabrication of alumina ceramics with irregular shapes or complicated patterns were also attempted by sintering the deposits together with the Ppy coated substrates in air.

The mechanical properties of ceramics materials can be tailored by designing their microstructures. We have reported that development of texture can be controlled by slip casting in a strong magnetic field followed by heating even for diamagnetic ceramics such as alumina. A strong magnetic field of 12T was applied to the suspension indcuding alumina powder to rotate each particle during slip casting. The sintering was conducted at the desired temperature in air without a magnetic field. C-axis of alumina was parallel to the magnetic field. Bending strength of textured alumina depended on the direction of oriented microstructure.

The microstructure and electrical conductivity of CNTs dispersed nanocomposites depending on the powder processing and CNTs content were demonstrated. The composite powders with homogeneous dispersion of CNTs could be synthesized by a catalytic route for direct formation of CNTs on nano-sized Fe dispersed powders. The sintered nanocomposite using the composite powder with directly synthesized CNTs showed homogeneous microstructure and enhanced elelctrical conductivity. The influence of powder processing on the properties of sintered nanocomposites was discussed by the observed microstructural features.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced hydroxyapatite (HAp) composites were fabricated by using the spark plasma sintering process with surfactant modified CNT and HAp nano powder. Without the dependency on sintering temperature, the main crystal phase existed with the HAp phase although a few contents of (Tri calcium phosphate) phase were detected. The maximum fracture toughness, was obtained in the sample sintered at and on the fracture surface a typical intergranular fracture mode, as well as the pull-out pmhenomenon of CNT, was observed.

Metallic compound of ternary Al-B-C system was prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) using Al, boron and graphite powders as starting materials. MA was carried out using Spex 8000 mixer/mill for 50 hours in an argon atmosphere without process control reagent such as methyl alcohol. The MA powders obtained were heat-treated in vacuum at the temperature of 873 and 1273 K for 5 hour. Pure ternary Al-B-C compound was obtained in the chemical content of Al:B:C=55:27:18. The ternary compound obtained in this study has a new phase whose crystal structure is not identified yet.

An infiltration technique using W-Cu composite powder has been developed to enhance microstructural uniformity of W-Cu pseudo-alloy. W-Cu composite powder, manufactured by reduction from WO3 and CuO powder mixtures, were blended with W powder and then cold iso-statically pressed into a cylindrical bar under 150 MPa. The pressed samples were pre-sintered at 1300 oC for 1 hour under hydrogen to make a skeleton structure. This skeleton structure was more homogeneous than that formed by using W and Cu powder mixtures. The skeleton structures were infiltrated with Cu under hydrogen atmosphere. The infiltrated W-Cu pseudo-alloy showed homogeneous microstructure without Cu rich region.

A new tungsten heavy alloy with hybrid structure was manufactured for the kinetic energy penetrator. The tungsten heavy alloy is composed of two parts: core region is molybdenum added heavy alloy to promote the self-sharpening; outer part encompassing the core is conventional heavy alloy to sustain severe load in a muzzle during firing. From ballistic test, it was found that the penetration performance of the hybrid structure tungsten heavy alloy is higher than that of conventional heavy alloy. This heavy alloy is thought to be very useful for the penetrator in the near future.