Progress in Fabrication of Si₃N₄ Porous Ceramics

Si₃N₄ porous ceramics possess light weight, high specific mechanical strength, excellent specific surface area, low thermal conductivity and low dielectric constant, making them to be promising candidates as high-temperature structural components, adsorbent, filters, catalyst supports, wave transparent materials, bio-scaffolds and so on. The comprehensive performance of Si₃N₄ porous ceramics is closely dependent on the processing. Herein, based on the design of raw materials, the fabrication of Si₃N₄ porous ceramics will be reviewed. Furthermore, the general pore-forming techniques for Si₃N₄ porous ceramics will be analyzed, thus providing guidelines for the microstructure design and performance regulation of Si₃N₄ porous ceramics.