Heat transfer in ceramic green bodies is examined during rapid binder removal cycles predicted by a variational calculus algorithm. Both the heat transfer and the mass transfer problems are described by one-dimensional spatial models, for which analytical solutions are available. During the minimum time heating cycles, the temperature difference within the green body is shown to depend on the thermal diffusivity, on the permeability, on the threshold pressure at which failure of the green body occurs, and on a number of other kinetic and transport parameters. The temperature difference within the green body is smallest during the early part of the minimum time heating cycle, when the constraint on pressure buildup within the green body limits the rate at which the temperature can be increased.