The current achievements in superhard thin films were reviewed. Theoretical research on thehardness of superhard films was surveyed, followed by the discussion on the strengthening mechanisms in different superhard films such as those combined with light elements, nano-compositefilms and nano-multilayers. The perspective on the development of superhard films was also given.

The chemical reaction between ZrO₂ and Si3N4 can lead to the formation of ZrN, Zr oxynitride,and/or N-stabilized ZrO₂. In this paper, Chemical incompatibility of the ZrO₂-Si₃N₄ ceramiccomposites and its elimination methods were reviewed.

Ultrafine titania particles were synthesized by the gas-phase oxidation of titanium tetrachloride in a high temperature tubular aerosol
flow reactor. The measurement of EDS, TG-DTA, TEM, XRD and BET surface area was used to characterize the particles. The effect of residence time
and reaction temperature on the morphology of titania particles was investigated. The results showed the average particle size of titania
became larger and rutile weight fraction increased as the residence time increased, and the maximum rutile weight fraction was attained at 1300℃
and the particle size increased with increasing temperature. The prepared particles and commercial TiO₂ were employed for photocatalytic
degradation of azo dye active red X--3B in aerated solution. The results showed that the photoactivity of the titania particles of average size
35.3nm and 18.97% rutile fraction was higher than that of P25 and SH--1.

Densification, β→α phase transformation, elongated SiC grain growth and microstructure, and mechanical properties, especially toughness, of in-situ
toughened SiC-YAG composites were investigated in detail. By using packing powders with same compositions as packed samples, the evaporation of Al₂O₃
was inhibited and full densification (>99% of theoretical density) of in-situ toughened SiC-YAG was achieved. The β→α phase transformation occurrs at
1950℃, however, remained β-SiC can be still found by XRD after post-heated at 2100℃ for 4h. The content of liquid phase and α-SiC seeds has no effect on the phase transformation rate.
Following phase transformation and grain growth during post-heating, further densification of in-situ SiC-YAG continues and the network microstructure
consisting of elongated SiC grains can be obtained. Finally, the SEPB fracture toughness achieved is near 7.0 MPa·m^1/2.

Based on the thermodynamic analysis of Meⁿ⁺ (Zn²⁺, Cr³⁺ , Mn²⁺, Sb³⁺, Bi³⁺, Co2+)-NH₃CO₂---H₂O systems, the curves about lg[M]_T-pH of Mⁿ⁺-NH₃-CO₃^2--H₂O systems were obtained.It shows that the optimal pH is 7.0 to prepare doped zinc oxide varistor ceramic powders bycoprecipitation process, and the precipitants are NH₄HCO₃ and NH₃.H₂O.

In the present work, La_1-xSr_xCrO_3-δ (0≤ x≤0.3) was synthesized by Glycine-Nitrate-Process (GNP), and characterized by XRD, TEM
and DTA/TG. Electrical conductivity, sintering behavior and phase structure of as-sintered samples were measured by DC 4-probe technique, Archimedes method
and XRD. It was found that the average primary grain size of the synthesized powders was around 30nm. However, grain agglomerates were observed in the powders,
which could be removed by short time ball-milling. Single-phase bulk materials of La_1-xSr_xCrO_3-δ were sintered at 1550℃ for 4 h.
The relative density of La_0.7Sr_0.3CrO_3-δ was 91.7%. The electrical conductivity of La_0.8Sr_0.2CrO_3-δ was 14.7S·cm^-1.

A novel tape casting and isostatic pressing combined technique was used to prepare YSZ membranes. The effects of isostatic
pressing on green and as-sintered tape density and microstructure as well as electrical conductivity were measured and observed.
The results showed that the isostatic pressing can raise the green tape density by 8%～11% and the as-sintered tape density by 5%～10%,
and the electrical conductivity of as-sintered tape exhibited a small improvement. The combined forming technique is not complicated and
can be used for a scale fabrication of ceramic tape.

The physical and chemical characteristics, pore radius, pore size distribution and surface area, pore volume, porosity of the the membrane prepared
by sol-gel method using aluminum isoproxide were studied using TG--DTA, BET at different firing temperature from room temperature to 1000℃. The
preferred orientation of alumina micrograin of the alumina membrane was studied by XRD. The surface and cross-section were observed by TEM and SEM.
The pore size distribution are influenced by preferred orientation of alumina micrograin. The higher the firing temperature, the higher the degree of the
preferred orientation, the more the uniformity of the pore size distribution of the membrane, the bigger the largest the pore radius of the membrane.
400℃ is suitable firing temperature of the membrane used as membrane catalysis and/or membrane reaction with the largest the surface area, pore volume and porosity of 283m²/g, 0.338mL/g and 53%. 700℃ is
suitable firing temperature of the membrane used as separation with the surface area, pore volume and porosity of 202m²/g, 0.203mL/g and 45%.
The largest pore radiu is 5nm, pore with radius of 1～1.25nm is above 70% pore volume at 700℃.

Yttria stabilized tetragonal zirconia(Y-TZP) suspensions were prepared by employing polyelectrolytes as dispersant. Isotherm adsorption
and electrokinetic measurement of the suspensions suggested that surface chemistry of the particles was affected by such adsorbed polymers as
NH_4PAA and the optimum concentration of the polymer dispersant was about 2wt%. The isoelectric point(IEP) of the suspension was shifted to low pH value.
Interactions between particles were measured by using atomic force microscopy(AFM). The polymer adsorbed particles showed enhanced repulsive force 3 times higher
than that of unadsorbed Y-TZP particles. Scanning auger microscopy(SAM) results showed that surface bond structure of particles was influenced by adsorbed polymers. Rheology tests also revealed that the viscosity reached its nadir
at saturated adsorption point, which was consistent with the conclusion drawn from isotherm adsorption.

Ca-α-Sialons for the compositions M_xSi_3-xAl_xO_xN_16-x with x ranging from 0.3 to 2.0 were prepared by hot-pressing technique. The reaction
sequence, formation behavior, variation of lattice parameters with the compositions and microstructure of Ca-α-Sialon were reported in this paper. The result
showed that the crystalline phase of Ca-α-Sialon in the sintered material consists of α-Sialon and AlN-polytypoid 21R when x is equal to or greater than 1.0 and the 21R content increases as the x-value increases. TEM observation
confirmed the phase assemblages of Ca-α-Sialon samples and further revealed the existence of elongated α’grain in the materials.

The effects of deposition tempertature,flow of C₃H₆, total pressure on the morphology of deposits were studied with C₃H₆
as source material, Ar as dilute gas. Three kinds of morphology were accounted by using the principle of the nuclei-growth of crystal. It was showed that
the deposition mode of pyrolytic carbon changes from surfacial nuclie-growth mode to droplet mode and gasous nuclie-borne mode as increasing deposition
temperature and total pressure. The effect of flow of C₃H₆ on deposition mode underlies different principle under different deposition
temperatures. The change of the morphology of pyrolytic carbon can be determined by the changes of deposition mode of pyrolytic carbon with
deposition condition.

The Hydroapatite(HA)-Ti functionally graded biomaterial(FGM) was developed by powder metallurgical process. Young’s modulus and thermal
expansion coefficient of HA-Ti composite materials were investigated. The residual thermal stress and strain in HA-Ti FGM and HA/Ti dual laminate (non-
FGM) cooled to room temperature after sintering was analyzed by the classical lamination theory and thermal-elastic mechanics. The results show the HA-Ti
FGM displays the microstructural characteristics of macroscopic inhomogeneity and microscopic continuity. Young’s modulus of HA-Ti composite materials is
affected by the porosity and reaches its valley point at Ti-HA80. The thermal expansion coefficient increases with the rise of the testing temperature and
HA content. The residual thermal stress and strain strongly depends on the constitutional distribution. In FGM, the maximal residual tensile stress is
only a third of that in non-FGM plate. It is obvious that the HA-Ti FGM has the function of thermal stress relaxation.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings on Ti-6Al-4V substrate were prepared by atmospheric plasma spraying method under a variety of
spray distances and spray powers. The structure of HA coatings were then studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-ray
Diffractometer (XRD) was applied to determine the phase composition of the coatings. The Ca/P mole ratios of the coatings were examined
by X-ray Fluoroscopy (XRF). Experimental results indicated that with the increase of spray distance, the melting state of the HA coating
was improved but the crystallinity of coating was reduced. However, the surface images and crystallinity of coatings were not influenced
by spray power significantly. The Ca/P ratio showed a higher value at shorter spray distance but increased with increase in spray power.

The heterophasic photochromic glass containing AgX was classified by clustering analysis methods, and the effects of some components
and temperature on photochromic properties were discussed respectively. The photochromic glass was divided into seven groups
according to the similarity of T_o25、T_d25 and T_f25 in the different samples. The results reveal that the contents of
silver and copper greatly effect the photochromic properties, while the addition of nickel and manganese sharply decreases the transmission of the
glass; By comparison with in 25℃, T_o do not change in 40℃, whereas T_d and T_f increase obviously.

Heterogeneous precipitation methods were used to produce 5wt% SiC-15wt% ZrO₂(3Y)-Al₂O₃ nanocomposite powders.
The aqueous suspension’s pH controlled between 9 and 10, and the resulting gel calcined at 1000℃ are two key processes for preparing nanocomposite powders. 5wt% SiC-15 wt% ZrO₂(3Y)-Al₂O₃
nanocomposites were superfast densified using spark plasma sintering (SPS) process by heating to a sintering temperature between 1350 to 1600℃
at a heating rate of 600℃/min, without holding time, and then fast cooling to 600℃ within 3 minutes. Bending strength of 5wt% SiC-15wt%
ZrO₂(3Y)-Al₂O₃ nanocomposites sintered at 1450℃ reached a value as high as 1200MPa, while the fracture toughness of the sample
sintered at 1450℃ was above 5MPa·m^1/2, which is significantly higher than that of SiC-Al₂O₃ nanocomposites and Al₂O₃ ceramics. Microstructure studies found that nano-SiC particles
were mainly located within Al₂O₃ grains and the fracture mode of the nanocomposites was mainly transgranular fracture. It is the main reason
why the intra-type nanocomposites show excellent mechanical properties, while in present research system, a part of contribution to high mechanical
properties is from ZrO₂ phase transformation toughening.

The effect of type of solid solution on the thermal stability of aluminium titanate (Al₂TiO₅) was investigated by using additives
to form different type of solid solution with Al₂TiO₅. It is shown that the formation of complete solid solution in both unstabilized
Al₂TiO₅ and Fe₂O₃-stabilized Al₂TiO₅ has the best effect on suppressing the thermal decomposition of Al₂TiO₅；interstitial solid solution and limited substitutional solid solution
are inferior to complete solid solution in stabilizing Al₂TiO₅；in contrast, the stability of Al₂TiO₅ which forms unequal-valency
substitutional solid solution is poorest.

he oxidation behavior of multi-cation α-Sialons containing Nd and Y or Yb for the compositions (Nd_0.18Y_0.18)Si_10.38Al_1.62O_0.54N_15.46
and (Nd_0.18Yb_0.18)Si_10.38Al_1.62O_0.54N_15.46 was investigated in the temperature range of 1200℃ to 1400℃ in air.
The samples were prepared by hot-pressing technique. The results indicated that there existed silicate grains containing neodymium and yttrium or ytterbium in
preferred orientation on the surface of multi-cation (Nd,Y)- and (Nd,Yb)-α-Sialon respectively oxidized at 1200℃ or 1300℃ for 20h. By increase
of oxidation temperature, bubble, which was caused by softening of silicate oxidation layer, occurred and glassy phase appeared obviously on the surfaces of oxidized samples.
The phases formed on the surfaces of multi-cation α-Sialons during the oxidation were also discussed in this paper.

Nano-scale powders (about 10nm) of ZnO were prepared by chemical method. Also the relation between ζ potential and dispersity of zinc
carbonate hydroxide precursor in the procedure was studied. After being washed, the ζ potential of particles was specially examined. It was found that the ζ potential of particles decreased obviously and closed to its
isoelectric point after being washed by distilled water. This phenomenon certainly caused the aggregation of particles. So in washing process, the 0.1M ammonia was
used instead of distilled water to controll pH value and increase ζ potential. Finally the dispersity of powders was improved.

By the carbothermal method and different additives, NbC_x(x=0.98)--C three-dimensional netted fibers were prepared in graphite resistance furnace with 0.1 MPa/N₂ ambient atmosphere attemperatures of 1070 to 1670℃. The diameters of 3-D netted fibers are 12-38μm, the circumferences are 0.22-2.2mm, the hole diameters are 70-701μm. The proccesing conditions for fabricating NbC_x-C 3-D netted fibers, and relative morphology of NbC_x-C netted fibers were investigated indetail.

Vanadium Dioxide(VO₂) thin films deposited on(1120) sapphire substrates by pulsed laser ablation were characterized by using the techniques of XRD，
XRD pole figure，RBS/channeling and electrical measurements．The results show that VO₂ thin film on the (1120) sapphire grows epitaxially
with out-of-plane:(100)VO₂//(1120)sapphire and in-plane: VO₂[010]//sapphire[0001]．Channeling cannot be found in RBS/Channeling analysis，indicating that the film
fails to single crystalline growth. The further analysis of the crystallography of the (100)VO₂ reveals that within 5 1attice periods，no other lattice vector
exists in the (100) plane of VO₂ to match the lattice of sapphire，therefore，it is impossible to deposit single

MgO thin films were successfully prepared on Si substrate by a novel and simple Sol-Gelmethod. The results indicated that collodion is a key element to form stable MgO sols. Thestructures of MgO films are closely related to the amount of collodion and the annealing temperature. In addition, the microstructures of the MgO thin films were examined with X-ray distraction(XRD), Atomic Force Morphology (AFM) and Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM).