Patent ID: 6998064

Claim:
A method of producing a powder-like thermal insulating material comprising a first component with at least one first phase, which stoichiometrically contains (a) 1 to 80 mol-% of M 2 O 3 , (b) 0.5 to 80 mol-% MeO and (c) the remainder comprising Al 2 O 3 , wherein M is selected from the group formed by lanthanum, neodymium and mixtures thereof, and Me is selected from the group formed by zinc, the alkaline earth metals, transition metals, the rare earths and mixtures thereof, said method comprising the steps of: (a) adding a starting material, in a quantity appropriate to yield the stoichiometry of said insulating material, selected from the group consisting of oxides of Al, hydroxides of Al, oxy-hydrates of Al, and mixtures thereof, to a solvent in which said starting material is insoluble, selected from the group consisting of aqueous solvents, alcoholic solvents and mixtures thereof; (b) adding salts of M 2 O 3 and MeO which are soluble in said solvent, in quantities appropriate to yield the stoichiometry of said insulating material, to said solvent; (c) dispersing said starting material and said salts to form a suspension; (d) drying said suspension to form a dry material; and (e) annealing said dry material.