Cellular ceramics with hierarchical porosity from preceramic polymers

Abstract

Cellular ceramics are a class of high porosity materials that are used or are being considered for a wide range of technological applications. A wide range of processing routes have been proposed for the production of porous ceramics, since the fabrication method selected affects the characteristics of the material substantially and different applications usually require materials with different characteristics. Among them, the use of preceramic polymers enables fabrication of porous components with porosity in the micro-meso and macro scales using a variety of processing approaches. The amount of porosity can be as high as >90 vol%, with pore size in the range from nm to mm, and graded porosity can also be obtained. Components with hierarchical porosity (e.g. micro-macro, meso-macro or micro-meso-macro pores) can be fabricated using different strategies. © 2011 Ceramic Society of Japan.