Porous materials

Claim 1

A POROUS SINTERED METAL MATERIAL USEFUL FOR INFILTRATION WITH LUBRICANTS AND AS FLUID-FLOW DISTRIBUTORS, FILTERS AND THE LIKE CHARACTERIZED IN HAVING INTERCONNECTED PORE CHANNELS OF AVERAGE PORE DIMETER SIZE IN ACCORDANCE WITH ASTM STANDARD E128-61 OF FROM SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN ONE MICRON TO ABOUT 25 MICRONS AND IN EXHIBITING EXCELLENT PORE CHANNEL STABILITY AT HIGH TEMPERATURES, SAID MATERIAL CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A CONTINUOUS FRAMEWORK OF SINTERED METAL PARTICLES DEFINING A NETWORK OF INTER-CONNECTED PORE CHANNELS PENETRATING SAID MATERIAL, INERT DISPERSOID PARTICLES DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE FRAMEWORK OF SAID SINTERED PARTICLES AND ON THE SURFACES OF SAID PORE CHANNELS, SAID DISPERSOID PARTICLES BIEN GPRESENT IN AN AMOUNT BY VOLUME FRACTION OF FROM ABOUT 0.001 TO ABOUT 0.20 AND FORMING WITH SAID SINTEREDMTAL PARTICLES A WETTING ANGLE OF AT LEAST 90* AS MEANSURED FROM THESINTERED METALDISPERSOID PARTICLE INTERFCE TO THE SINTERED METAL-ATMOSPHERE INTERFACE AND WHEREIN AT LEAST 70 PERCENT OF SAID PORE CHNNELS ARE INTERCONNECTED.