Shear binder agglomerates enabling high porosity in ceramic honeycomb bodies

A porous honeycomb body, comprising:

• a matrix of cells, the matrix of cells comprising a porous ceramic material comprising:
• a plurality of ceramic beads;
• and
• a plurality of inorganic ribbons spanning interbead gaps between adjacent ceramic beads, and connecting adjacent ceramic beads together,
• wherein less than 50% of the ceramic beads are in direct contact with adjacent ceramic beads.

A method for manufacturing an extruded ceramic body, the method comprising:

• mixing a plurality of inorganic filler particles and a polymeric binder, thereby forming a shear binder mixture;
• forming a plurality of green shear binder agglomerates from the shear binder mixture;
• mixing together a plurality of ceramic beads and the plurality of green shear binder agglomerates, thereby forming an extrusion paste;
• extruding the extrusion paste to form a green body, wherein during at least one of the mixing or the extruding the shear binder agglomerates are deformed under an applied shear stress to span interbead gaps between adjacent ceramic beads;
• drying the green body;
• and
• firing the green body to form a fired ceramic body comprising a network of the ceramic beads interconnected by ribbons formed from the inorganic filler particles of the deformed green shear binder agglomerates,
• wherein one or more of (i) less than 50% of the ceramic beads are in direct contact with adjacent ceramic beads and (ii) at least 50% of the ceramic beads are connected to at least one of the ribbons, and wherein the green body comprises a honeycomb geometry.