OPEN CELL POROUS MATERIAL AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME

摘要

An open cell porous material and a method for producing it is provided. The porous material of the present invention is generally composed of particles of at least one inorganic material bonded together by a brazing agent, generally provided as inorganic brazing alloy particles. The porous material is produced by heating a mixture comprising inorganic brazing alloy particles having a first melting temperature, inorganic particles having a second melting temperature higher than the first melting temperature, a binding agent having a decomposition temperature lower than the first melting temperature and preferably a foaming agent. In practice, the mixture is heated to induce foaming thereof via the foaming agent. The solid foamed structure is then heated at the decomposition temperature to substantially eliminate the binder. The resulting foamed structure is then heated again at about the first melting temperature to melt the inorganic brazing alloy particles in order to bond together the remaining three-dimensional network of inorganic particles into a rigid structure having interconnected porosity.