| abstract |
A porous ceramic body useful for making particulate filters is comprised of acicular mullite grains bound together by a ceramic grain boundary phase, wherein said porous acicular mullite body has a bulk carbon content from 0.005% to 10% by weight of the body. The porous body may be made by forming a mixture of mullite precursors (e.g., alumina and silica) and a compound that is inorganic carbon (graphitic or amorphous), inorganic compound that contains carbon (e.g., metal carbide) or an organic compound that decomposes to form inorganic carbon or an inorganic compound that contains carbon and heating in an atmosphere containing fluorine to form the acicular mullite body and removing the fluorine. |