Abstract
Two processing routes (i.e., the gel casting and polymer preform routes) using polymer beads were studied to fabricate porous ceramics with a cellular structure. The gel casting route, comprising the gel casting of a ceramic slurry mixed with polymer beads, was found to be inadequate to produce porous ceramic bodies with a interconnected pore structure, due to complete coating of the slurry on the polymer beads, which left just isolated pores in the final sintered bodies. The polymer preform route, involving the infiltration of a polymer beads preform with the ceramic slurry, successfully produced porous ceramics with a highly interconnected network of spherical pores. The pore size of 250-300 $\mu\textrm{m}$ was demonstrated and the porosity ranged from 82 to 86%. This process is advantageous to control the pore size because it is determined by the sizes of polymer beads used. Another feature is the avoidance of hollow skeleton, giving a high strength.
