Abstract: Also disclosed herein is an article having a substrate and a layer of an FeRh alloy disposed on the substrate. The alloy has a continuous antiferromagnetic phase and one or more discrete phases smaller in area than the continuous phase having a lower metamagnetic transition temperature than the continuous phase. Also disclosed herein is a method of: providing an article having a substrate and a layer having a continuous phase of an antiferromagnetic FeRh alloy disposed on the substrate and directing an ion source at one or more portions of the alloy to create one or more discrete phases having a lower metamagnetic transition temperature than the continuous phase.

Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide such an oriented polyester film that has a constant thickness, and is excellent in dimensional stability at a high temperature and dimensional stability to temperature change in a working temperature range. The invention relates to an oriented polyester film containing as a major component of a substrate layer polyethylene -2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate, being stretched at least in one direction, and having a film thickness of from 12 to 250 ?m, wherein (1) a coefficient of linear thermal expansion ?t at a temperature of from 30 to 100° C. is from 0 to 15 ppm/° C. in both longitudinal and width directions of the film, and (2) a thermal shrinkage rate at 100° C. for 10 minutes is 0.5% or less in both longitudinal and width directions of the film.

Abstract: The invention provides systems and methods for the deposition of an improved diamond-like carbon material, particularly for the production of magnetic recording media. The diamond-like carbon material of the present invention is highly tetrahedral, that is, it features a large number of the sp3 carbon-carbon bonds which are found within a diamond crystal lattice. The material is also amorphous, providing a combination of short-range order with long-range disorder, and can be deposited as films which are ultrasmooth and continuous at thicknesses substantially lower than known amorphous carbon coating materials. The carbon protective coatings of the present invention will often be hydrogenated. In a preferred method for depositing of these materials, capacitive coupling forms a highly uniform, selectively energized stream of ions from a dense, inductively ionized plasma.

Abstract: A porous monocomponent nonwoven web contains a bimodal mass fraction/fiber size mixture of intermingled continuous microfibers and larger size fibers of the same polymeric composition. There are at least five times as many microfibers as larger size fibers, and a histogram of the mass fraction of fibers vs. fiber size exhibits a larger size fiber mode greater than 10 ?m. The web may be made by flowing fiber-forming material through a die cavity having larger size orifices and at least five times as many smaller size orifices to form filaments, attenuating the filaments into fibers and collecting the attenuated fibers to form the nonwoven web. The web is especially well suited to the manufacture of self-supporting three dimensional articles such as molded cup-shaped respirators and pleated air filters.

Abstract: A surface processing method for processing the surface of an insulating article in which an ion-implanted surface-modified layer is effectively formed on the article 2. In surface processing the article 2 of an insulating material, an electrically conductive thin metal film 50 is first formed on the article surface. A pulsed voltage containing a positive pulsed voltage and a negative pulsed voltage is applied to the article in a plasma containing ions to be implanted to implant ions in the article surface. This implants ions at right angles to the article surface to generate a surface-modified layer 51. There is no possibility of the article 2 being charged up due to application of a pulsed voltage.

Abstract: The present invention provides a polyester film particularly useful as a base film for a magnetic recording medium such as cassette-type magnetic tape of a digital recording mode and a production process thereof. The polyester film is produced by irradiating UV light onto a surface of a film in a non-stretched stage or a stage prior to the completion of stretching to form fine protrusions on the surface. The fine protrusions on the film surface are specified by the ratio of 10-point average roughness Rz to center line average roughness Ra (Rz/Ra) on the surface (less than 20), the difference in concentration of carboxyl groups between the surface layer part and the inside of the film, and the number of fine protrusions.