Matting, exhaust gas purification device, and method for manufacturing matting

A method of producing a mat material, the method comprising:

• a defibrating step of defibrating pre-defibration inorganic fibers by adding water to the pre-defibration inorganic fibers to produce an inorganic fiber dispersion;
• an inorganic fiber-binder mixture producing step of mixing the inorganic fiber dispersion with an inorganic binder and an organic binder to obtain an inorganic fiber-binder mixture;
• a papermaking step of subjecting the inorganic fiber-binder mixture to papermaking and dehydration to obtain a mat precursor;
• and
• a heating and pressurizing step of heating and pressurizing the mat precursor to obtain a mat material,
• wherein in the defibrating step, the pre-defibration inorganic fibers are defibrated such that the inorganic fibers after defibration have an underwater bulk specific gravity of 0.001 to 0.02 g/cm3.

A mat material comprising:

• inorganic fibers;
• and
• an inorganic binder and an organic binder attached to the inorganic fibers,
• wherein the mat material has an initial compression surface pressure of 900 kPa or more as measured when compressed to a bulk density of 0.50 g/cm3,
• the mat material is a mat produced by papermaking, and
• the mat material is produced by subjecting an inorganic fiber-binder mixture to papermaking, the inorganic fiber-binder mixture being a mixture of an inorganic fiber dispersion containing inorganic fibers having an underwater bulk specific gravity of 0.001 to 0.02 g/cm3, an inorganic binder, and an organic binder.