A pulse electric current sintering technique was employed to fabricate porous alumina from a commercially available powder. Porosity was controllable between 20 to 50% depending on the sintering temperature. The fracture strength was correlated exponentially as a function of porosity. A high strength of ~250 MPa was achieved for the specimens, which had porosity of 30 vol.%. The strain-to-failure of the porous Al2O3 ceramics increased considerably and this improves the reliability of the specimens.

Keywords: porous material, ceramics, sintering, bending test, thermal stability