Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Director General Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Matsuo Higuchi

Masaya Miyake

Kenji Matsunuma

Akira Yamakawa

Osamu Komura

Eiji Kamijo

Takao Nishioka

Harutoshi Ukegawa

Tetsuya Katayama

Norio Yasuoka

Yoshishige Takano

Akira Kuibira

Kaoru Murabe

Chihiro Kawai

Masaaki Honda

Tatsuya Nishimoto

Fumio Ono

Ikuji Uemura

Hisao Takeuchi

Nobuyuki Kitagawa

Takehisa Yamamoto

Shingo Hirota

Yasuhiro Saito

The ceramic insert made from a silicon nitride ceramic material and formed with a recess for fastening in the center of its rake face. The recess has a surface roughness Rmax not exceeding 4 .mu.m. The angle between a side face of the recess and a centerline perpendicular to the rake face of the insert is 50-70 degrees. The ratio of the diameter of the recess to the diameter of a circle inscribing the perimeter of the rake face is 30-85%. The recess has a flat or curved bottom. The connecting portion between the side face and the bottom of the recess forms a smoothly curved surface.

Ceramic insert for use with clamp type cutting tool

A slide member has a sliding surface made of ceramic and a has surface roughness of not more than 1.0 .mu.m in center line average roughness Ra. The ceramics includes a silicon nitride sintered body which contains crystal grains having a linear density of at least 35 per 30 .mu.m in length with a boundary phase volume ratio of not more than 15 volume %, and which contains pores of not more than 20 .mu.m in maximum diameter in a content of not more than 3%. In a method of manufacturing the slide member, it is possible to ensure smoothness of the sliding surface by grinding the sliding surface and thereafter heating the ceramic in an either an inert gas or atmospheric air. A slide member that can be used under severe sliding conditions of high-speed sliding or the like and that has excellent wear resistance is obtained. Even if the slide member is used for to a sliding part of a compressor or the like which employs a fluorocarbon containing no chlorine as a cooling medium, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of seizure and abnormal wear on the sliding surface.

Slide member and method of manufacturing the same

A sintered silicon nitride-based body comprising 20% or less by weight of a grain boundary phase and the balance being a major phase of grains of silicon nitride and/or sialon, wherein the major phase contains a grain phase of a .beta.-Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 phase and/or a .beta.'-sialon phase, and a quantitative ratio of the grain phase of the .beta.-Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 phase and/or the .beta.'-sialon phase is in a range of 0.5 to 1.0 relative to the major phase; the grain boundary phase contains Re.sub.2 Si.sub.2 O.sub.7 (wherein Re represents a rare-earth element other than Er and Yb) as a first crystal component and at least one of ReSiNO.sub.2, Re.sub.3 Al.sub.5 O.sub.12, ReAlO.sub.3, and Si.sub.3 N.sub.4.Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 as a second crystal component; and a quantitative ratio of the first and second crystal components in the grain boundary phase to the grain phase of .beta.-Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 phase and/or the .beta.'-sialon phase ranges from 0.03 to 1.6. The sintered body is produced by mixing a specific sintering aid and silicon nitride-based powder, sintering the mixture and heat treating the sintered body for nucleation and crystal growth within the temperature range of from 1050.degree. to 1550.degree. C.

Sintered silicon nitride-based body and process for producing the same

Composite bearing structure

Sintered silicon nitride-based body

A ceramic die for cutting and shaping lead frames, in which at least a working section thereof is made of a specific ceramic material having an iron and cobalt content of less than 100 ppm in total. The ceramic die can be formed in a complex shape with a high precision and has a prolonged lifetime because of its superior mechanical properties, such as high wear resistance and high strength, and less probability of adhesion of foreign matter such as solder or the lead frame material thereto. Even if the solder or lead frame material is adhered onto the die, the adhered matter can be removed through a simple procedure in a shortened time. The die is further improved by depositing a hard carbon film onto the surface of the working section.

Ceramic die for cutting and shaping lead frames and method of cleaning

A zirconia vane used in a rotary compressor, the zirconia vane being formed of a partially stabilized zirconia sintered body containing 92 through 98 molar percent of ZrO.sub.2 and being stabilized with Y.sub.2 O.sub.3, zirconia crystals constituting the zirconia sintered body having a mean grain diameter of 0.1 to 0.6 .mu.m and a maximum grain diameter of not greater than 2 .mu.m, the zirconia sintered body having a mean three-point flexural strength of not less than 120 kg/mm.sup.2 measured in conformity with JIS R1601, a surface of the zirconia sintered body in contact with a rotor of the rotary compressor having a first surface roughness in a direction of rotations of the rotor, specified by a ten-point mean roughness Rz, of not greater than 1 .mu.m and a second surface roughness in a direction perpendicular to the direction of rotation of the rotor, specified by the ten-point mean roughness Rz, of not greater than 0.6 .mu.m. The vane is light-weight and has excellent sliding properties to effectively prevent cohesion and seizure in an atmosphere of a coolant of chlorine-free like an HFC.

Zirconia vane for rotary compressors

A high-strength silicon nitride sintered body having a flexural strength of 100 kg/mm.sup.2 or higher and a process for producing the same are disclosed, the sintered body comprising not less than 90% by weight of a single crystalline phase of silicon aluminum oxynitride (Si.sub.6-z Al.sub.2 O.sub.z N.sub.8-z, wherein z is a number of from 0 to 4.2) having an average longer diameter of not more than 5 .mu.m and an aspect ratio of not less than 5, the crystal phase constituting a network structure in the sintered body, the balance being a crystalline or amorphous (glassy) phase comprising one or more of oxides or oxynitrides of a rare earth metal, a group 3A metal, a group 2A metal or Si, and the process comprising mixing silicon nitride powder, an organic metal salt as a first sintering aid, and at least one of a metal oxide, a metal nitride, and a metal oxynitride as a second sintering aid, either separately or as a mixture of two or more thereof, with a solvent and a surface active agent, subjecting the mixture or mixtures to ultrasonic dispersion, mixing the mixtures together followed by drying to obtain a mixed powder, molding the mixed powder, and sintering the molded article at a temperature of from 1,600.degree. C. to 2,200.degree. C. in a non-oxidative atmosphere.

High strength silicon nitride sintered body and process for producing

A composite bearing structure can withstand high speed rotation has first, second and third bearing components. The first bearing component supports a radial impact force applied to a rotator during rotation, and is made of an inner ring (1) and an outer ring (2) of silicon nitride ceramic sintered bodies. The second bearing component supports an axial load applied to the rotator while maintaining a required clearance between itself and the rotator and is made of two permanent magnets (12, 13) positioned thrustdirectionally opposite to each other. The third bearing component maintains a radial rotational accuracy of the rotator, and is made of a radial dynamic pressure producing groove (5) provided on a cylindrical surface of the inner ring (1).

A high-strength silicon nitride sintered body having a flexural strength of 100 kg/mm.sup.2 or higher and a process for producing the same are disclosed, the sintered body comprising not less than 90% by weight of a single crystalline phase of silicon aluminum oxynitride (Si.sub.6-z Al.sub.2 O.sub.z N.sub.8-z, wherein z is a number of from 0 to 4.2) having an average longer diameter of not more than 5 .mu.m and an aspect ratio of not less than 5, the crystal phase constituting a network structure in the sintered body, the balance being a crystalline or amorphous (glassy) phase comprising one or more of oxides or oxynitrides of a rare earth metal, a group 3A metal, a group 2A metal or Si, and the process comprising mixing silicon nitride powder, an organic metal salt as a first sintering aid, and at least one of a metal oxide, a metal nitride, and a metal oxynitride as a second sintering aid, either separately or as a mixture of two or more thereof, with a solvent and a surface active agent, subjecting the mixture or mixtures to ultrasonic dispersion, mixing the mixtures together followed by drying to obtain a mixed powder, molding the mixed powder, and sintering the molded article at a temperature of from 1,600.degree. to 2,200.degree. C. in a non-oxidative atmosphere.

There is provided a process for the production of a sintered article which comprises steps of

Process for production of sintered silicon nitride made article

The present invention relates to a method of hot rolling copper or copper alloys such as copper wires and coppr plates. The present invention has succeeded in remarkably prolonging useful life of the tools used for hot rolling, and improving the surface quality of the rolled products by replacing the conventional methods of hot rolling copper using tools made of cemented carbide, die steel, high-speed steel, etc. by a method using tolls made essentially of Si.sub.3 N.sub.4. Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 tools used in the present invention contain at least one kind of sintering aid selected from the group consisting of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, AlN, MgO, Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 and ZrO.sub.2, have a sintering density of 90% or more, Rockwell hardness of 88 or more and an average particle diameter of 2.mu. or less, and contain .beta.-type Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 as a main ingredient.

Method of hot rolling copper

A novel method of hot rolling iron and iron alloy rods, using a hot rolling tool comprising .beta.-Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 and a sintering aid selected from the group consisting of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, AlN, MgO, Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 and ZrO.sub.2, and having a sintered density of 90% or more, Rockwell hardness of 88 or more and a mean particle size of 2.mu. or less.

Method of hot rolling for iron and iron alloy rods

A method for manufacturing a fiber reinforced silicon carbide or silicon nitride ceramic sintered body having silicon carbide or silicon nitride ceramic whiskers dispersed therein, which method involves mixing together silicon carbide or silicon nitride ceramic powder, whisker formation agents made up of at least one material selected from metal Si or an inorganic compound containing Si, an organic containing Si, amorphous silicon ceramic powder or a mixture of SiO.sub.2 and carbon, or Si, sintering additives, and a whisker accelerating amount of a whisker formation accelerator selected from Fe, Ni, Co, Cr, V, Ti, Ta, W or Mo; molding the mixture into a predetermined shape; heat treating the molded body at a temperature of 1300.degree. C. to 1750.degree. C. to produce silicon carbide or silicon nitride whiskers in the molded body and thereafter densifying and sintering the molded body at sintering temperatures in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The silicon carbide and silicon nitride ceramics produced by said method have excellent heat-resistance characteristics and excellent impact and corrosion resistance, thus making these ceramics eminently suitable for structural materials where these properties are required.

Growing community of inventors

Itami, Japan

Matsuo Higuchi