Method for manufacturing a particulate filter for diesel engines, using a high-performant ceramic foam

A process for producing a particulate filter for diesel engines which envisages the preparation of a filtering body consisting of a ceramic foam (8), on which an oxidizing catalyst is deposited, in said process the ceramic foam being produced, starting from a ceramic-material powder-based suspension (slurry), by preparing a preform of polymeric foam material and impregnating the said preform with the aforesaid ceramic-powder slurry so as to distribute the slurry evenly on the preform, and by then subjecting the body thus obtained to a thermal cycle of sintering in such a way as to pyrolyze the polymeric material and obtain a high-porosity ceramic material having a structure similar to that of the starting polymeric material, characterized in that the ceramic-material powder is chosen from among mullite (3Al2O3-2SiO2) powder, alumina (Al2O3) powder, and zirconia (ZrO2) powder, or mixtures thereof, having a purity of over 97%, mean particle size of less than 2 μm, and a specific surface at least greater than 5 m3/g.