In the vacuum system of pneumatic conveying, the authors have proposed that a suction nozzle equipped with an injection pipe at the center would provide a highly dense, highly efficient method of transporting powders and particles. In this paper, we examined the effect of injection port positions arranged at the inside and outside of the suction nozzle. For the first experimental condition, the effect of the injection port positions was observed with the injection velocity made equal. As a result, it was found that the loading ratio was hardly influenced by the injection port position. For the second condition, the effect of the injection velocity was clarified with the injection pipe attached to the outside of the suction nozzle. It was revealed by the visualization of particle behavior near the suction nozzle that the characteristics of the flow depend on the injection flow rate, not the injection velocity.

Vat photopolymerization is an additive manufacturing process that is used to fabricate highly accurate three-dimensional (3D) ceramics. However, with this process, it is difficult to mold powders, such as carbides and TiO₂, which absorb light of a certain wavelength from the light source used. In this study, we investigated the fabrication of low conductivity Al₂O₃-ZrO₂-TiO₂ ceramics, a kind of electro-static discharge countermeasure ceramics, by digital light processing type vat photopolymerization. Slurries having a solid concentration of 35 vol%, in which Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, and TiO₂ ceramic powders were dispersed in a photocurable resin, were prepared. The influence of TiO₂ concentration on the photocurability and laminate properties were investigated. The results showed that as the TiO₂ concentration increased, the light irradiation energy required for molding increased. By carefully investigating the molding conditions at a laminating pitch of 25 μm, we could prepare dense and low conductivity Al₂O₃-ZrO₂-TiO₂ 3D complex shape ceramics.

Solution combustion synthesis (SCS) is a method for the powder synthesis using self-sustained exothermic reactions of sol–gel media. The advantages of this method are (1) simple experimental setup, (2) short reaction time, (3) applicability to complex compositions and doping owing to uniform sol–gel media as raw materials, and (4) porous or fine particles synthesis. SCS has been widely applied for the particles synthesis of various materials. This review introduces the basic methodology of SCS, and examples for porous composite materials for anode materials of Li-ion batteries, including MnO nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix and porous Sn–C composite. Finally, a recent progress in scale up of SCS is summarized.