There are many factors which control the porosity of the final object during preparation of porous copper compact using PM (powder metallurgy) technique. The amount of filler material, its type, sintering temperature, sintering time and the pressure of compaction were recognized as the most important parameters. In this investigation, naphthalene was used as filler material during porous copper preparation. Also, the correlation between these parameters and the porosity degree of the final object was developed with the aid of 2(N) factorial design experiments. It was found that the amount of naphthalene represents the most important parameter controlling the porosity degree in the final object. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.