Porous tantalum materials were prepared by a vacuum sintering technique using fine tantalum powder (< 0.45 μm) as the starting raw material. Effects of sintering time (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 min) at 1250 oC on the microstructures and the porous characteristics of the porous tantalum were investigated. The results show that the porous tantalum materials have the porosity of about 50% with pore size distribution of 0.08 cm3/g