A porous material includes an aggregate in which oxide films are formed on surfaces of particle bodies, and a binding material that contains cordierite and binds the aggregate together in a state where pores are formed. The binding material or the oxide films contain a rare-earth component that excludes Ce.

A method for manufacturing a pillar-shaped honeycomb fired body including: measuring a firing shrinkage at an end surface of a first pillar-shaped honeycomb firing body at every predetermined angle for one round based on a portion that has been located at the center of a die when a green body passes through the die, obtaining a second pillar-shaped honeycomb formed body having a corrected end surface contour by modifying an annular mask used for extrusion molding based on a result of the measuring, and then obtaining a second pillar-shaped honeycomb fired body by performing drying and firing.

A method for manufacturing a pillar-shaped honeycomb fired body including: measuring a firing shrinkage at an end surface of a first pillar-shaped honeycomb firing body at every predetermined angle for one round based on a portion that has been located at the center of a die when a green body passes through the die, obtaining a second pillar-shaped honeycomb formed body having a corrected end surface contour by modifying an annular mask used for extrusion molding based on a result of the measuring, and then obtaining a second pillar-shaped honeycomb fired body by performing drying and firing.

A thermally-insulating composite material with co-shrinkage in the form of an insulating material formed by the inclusion of microballoons in a matrix material such that the microballoons and the matrix material exhibit co-shrinkage upon processing. The thermally-insulating composite material can be formed by a variety of microballoon-matrix material combinations such as polymer microballoons in a preceramic matrix material. The matrix materials generally contain fine rigid fillers.

A thermally-insulating composite material with co-shrinkage in the form of an insulating material formed by the inclusion of microballoons in a matrix material such that the microballoons and the matrix material exhibit co-shrinkage upon processing. The thermally-insulating composite material can be formed by a variety of microballoon-matrix material combinations such as polymer microballoons in a preceramic matrix material. The matrix materials generally contain fine rigid fillers.

A catalytic convertor comprising a substrate body (100) arranged within the catalytic convertor such that a principal flow of fluid through the catalytic convertor flows along a surface (101) of the substrate body, wherein said surface (101) has a plurality of openings (210) to micro-channels that extend away from said surface (101); and at least a portion of the surface (101) of the substrate body (100) comprises a catalytically active material, wherein the substrate body (100) is in the form of: a pellet; a sheet; solid elongate bodies; solid rods; a solid body having a plurality of bores; a non-tubular elongate body; a non-hollow body; a sheet curved in the form or a spiral; or a combination thereof.

A catalytic convertor comprising a substrate body (100) arranged within the catalytic convertor such that a principal flow of fluid through the catalytic convertor flows along a surface (101) of the substrate body, wherein said surface (101) has a plurality of openings (210) to micro-channels that extend away from said surface (101); and at least a portion of the surface (101) of the substrate body (100) comprises a catalytically active material, wherein the substrate body (100) is in the form of: a pellet; a sheet; solid elongate bodies; solid rods; a solid body having a plurality of bores; a non-tubular elongate body; a non-hollow body; a sheet curved in the form or a spiral; or a combination thereof.

The present disclosure provides a composite including a nitride sintered body having a porous structure and a semi-cured product of a heat-curable composition impregnated into the nitride sintered body, wherein a dielectric breakdown voltage obtainable after disposing the composite between adherends, heating and pressurizing the composite for 5 minutes under the conditions of 200° C. and 10 MPa, and further heating the composite for 2 hours under the conditions of 200° C. and atmospheric pressure, is greater than 5 kV.

The present disclosure provides a composite including a nitride sintered body having a porous structure and a semi-cured product of a heat-curable composition impregnated into the nitride sintered body, wherein a dielectric breakdown voltage obtainable after disposing the composite between adherends, heating and pressurizing the composite for 5 minutes under the conditions of 200° C. and 10 MPa, and further heating the composite for 2 hours under the conditions of 200° C. and atmospheric pressure, is greater than 5 kV.

A ceramic honeycomb filter has (a) cross section areas of intake flow paths being larger than those of discharge flow paths; (b) the intake and discharge flow paths having octagonal cross section shapes with four-fold rotation symmetry each obtained by cutting off four corners from a square; (c) the intake and discharge flow paths being alternately arranged in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, such that their opposing sides are parallel; (d) the opening ratio of the intake flow paths being 45-60%; (e) the number of the flow paths per cm.sup.2 being 30-60; (f) the thickness t1 of a cell wall between an intake flow path and a discharge flow path adjacent to that intake flow path being 0.150-0.260 mm; and (g) the thickness t2 of a cell wall between adjacent intake flow paths meeting 1.175<t2/t1<1.6.