Patent ID: 7473391

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a sintered body, said method comprising the steps of: pretreating agar powder, before adding said agar powder to a first mixture, by adding a pretreatment agent selected from the group consisting of water, a hydrophilic solvent, and a mixture of water and a hydrophilic solvent to said agar powder to provide a pretreated agar powder which requires at least 50 minutes in an atmosphere at a temperature of 30° C. and at a relative humidity of 100% to increase a weight of said pretreated agar powder by 5%; then adding said pretreated agar powder to said first mixture which comprises at least a ceramic molding powder and a solvent; then mixing said pretreated agar powder and said first mixture at a temperature not higher than a dissolving point of said pretreated agar powder to obtain a second mixture; then heating and kneading said second mixture at a temperature not lower than said dissolving point of said pretreated agar powder thereby forming a sol; then forming a molded body using said sol; and then sintering said molded body to provide a sintered body.