Patent ID: 8894917

Claim:
A method of making a porous cordierite ceramic honeycomb article, comprising the steps of: providing a batch composition including a quantity of noncrosslinked pore former and a quantity of substantially nonfibrous inorganic components, wherein the quantity of pore former comprises a superaddition of about 20% or less of a dry weight of the quantity of inorganic components; forming the batch composition into a green body; and firing the green body to produce a porous ceramic honeycomb article including cordierite, wherein the porous ceramic honeycomb article includes a porosity of at least 50% with pores including a median pore size of less than about 12 μm; wherein the quantity of substantially nonfibrous inorganic components comprises relatively coarse silica and relatively fine silica; wherein the relatively coarse silica comprises silica having 95% of particles with sizes less than about 75 μm and with a median particle size of about 35 μm or less; and wherein the relatively fine silica comprises silica having 95% of particles with sizes less than about 40 μm and with a median particle size of about 15 μm or less.