Silicon nitride porous body and method of preparing the same

摘要

A ceramics porous body having excellent acid resistance and alkali resistance as well as excellent mechanical strength and durability which can be employed as a filter or a catalytic carrier is provided. A silicon nitride porous body contains a plurality of silicon nitride crystal grains with pores formed in grain boundary parts thereof, or comprises a body part and a pore part so that the body part is formed by a plurality of silicon nitride crystal grains and the pore part forms a three-dimensional network structure. The body part is formed by at least 90 vol. % of silicon nitride crystal grains, which are directly bonded to each other for forming the body part. The porous body which is mainly composed of silicon nitride is brought into contact with an acid and/or an alkali so that a component other than silicon nitride is partially or entirely dissolved and removed, thereby preparing a porous body.