A method of manufacturing a ceramic fired body, comprising:
- a correlation calculating step including:
- preparing a kneaded material by kneading a ceramic raw material containing inorganic powder, a binder, a pore former, and water, wherein the pore former contains a foamable resin that is destroyed by being kneaded with the water;
- preparing a formed body by forming the kneaded material;
- measuring a formed body density of the formed body;
- further preparing a dried body by drying the formed body;
- preparing a fired body by firing the dried body;
- measuring a porosity of the fired body;
- and
- obtaining a correlation between the formed body density of the formed body and the porosity of the fired body;
- and
- a formed body density predicting step including:
- in a case of preparing a kneaded material A from a ceramic raw material having substantially the same composition as the ceramic raw material used for preparing the kneaded material, preparing a formed body B by forming the kneaded material A, preparing a dried body C by drying the formed body B, and further preparing a fired body D having a desired porosity by firing the dried body C,
- calculating a predicted value of the formed body density of the formed body B corresponding to the desired porosity of the fired body D using the correlation, and
- the method further comprising:
- a kneaded material preparing step of preparing the kneaded material A by kneading a ceramic raw material containing inorganic powder, a binder, a pore former and water, the pore former containing a foamable resin that is destroyed by being kneaded with the water;
- a forming step of forming the formed body B by extruding the kneaded material A;
- a firing step of preparing the fired body D by firing the formed body B;
- and
- after the forming step of forming the formed body B, (i) if a measured value of the formed body density of the formed body B formed by the forming step is equal to the predicted value of the formed body density, the firing step of preparing the fired body D by firing the formed body B is performed, or (ii) if the measured value of the formed body density of the formed body B is different from the predicted value of the formed body density, a water addition amount adjusting step of adjusting an amount of water contained in the kneaded material A in order to obtain the predicted value of the formed body density of the formed body B is performed and repeated from the kneading step until the predicted value of the formed body density of the formed body B is obtained, after the water addition amount adjusting step.