Patent ID: 8071015

Claim:
A process for producing a porous metal body by sintering a material of said porous metal body, obtained by coating a slurry containing a metal powder and an organic binder on an organic porous aggregate, said process comprising: a defatting step of treating said material of said porous metal body at a temperature not higher than 650Â° C. in an atmosphere containing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; a decarbonization step of treating said material of said porous metal body after said defatting step in an inert atmosphere or vacuum atmosphere at a temperature not higher than sintering temperature; and a sintering step of retaining said material of said porous metal body after said decarbonization step in an inert atmosphere, vacuum atmosphere, hydrogen gas atmosphere, or in a reducing atmosphere containing hydrogen gas and an inert gas at a temperature not lower than said temperature in said decarbonization step and not higher than the melting point of said metal powder, wherein said atmosphere in said defatting step is in oxidative region to said metal powder, and in reductive region to carbon.