Patent ID: 8303284

Claim:
An apparatus for producing a porous body that forms an expandable slurry comprising: a deaerating device for deaerating a powdered slurry that contains an inorganic powder and a binder; a mixer for preparing an expandable slurry by mixing the deaerated powdered slurry and a foaming agent; a die-coater for shaping the expandable slurry into a sheet, said die-coater having a discharge opening which discharges the expandable slurry provided from the mixer to an external thereof; a carrier sheet arranged so as to face the discharge opening of the die-coater with a gap interposed therebetween, said carrier sheet feeding the expandable slurry discharged from the discharge opening, and a gas incorporation unit that controls an amount of gas incorporated into the deaerated powdered slurry, or into the expandable slurry in the mixer whereby the amount of bubbles included in the expandable slurry is controlled, wherein a flow path of the expandable slurry from inside the mixer to the discharge opening of the die-coater is hermetically sealed from outside the apparatus in order to prevent unexpected gasses from incorporating into the slurry whereby the porosity of the porous body with a high level of precision is controlled.