Manufacture of cellular honeycomb structures
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsDell J. St. Julien, John F. Wight, Jr., Shy-Hsien Wu, Kenneth E. Zaun
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Abstract
A powder-formed cellular honeycomb body of novel tapered, curved and/or very high cell density configuration is provided through a reforming procedure wherein a precursor honeycomb shaped from a plasticized powder batch material is filled with a compatible plastic filler, reshaped at a temperature at which the plastic deformation characteristics of the honeycomb and filler are matched, and then solidified after removal of the filler to fix the final configuration of the body.
Claims23
A cellular honeycomb body comprising a plurality of longitudinal channels separated from each other by channel walls traversing the body from a first body end face to a second body end face, wherein at least some of the channels comprise a length portion (i) having a channel cross-section which decreases in at least one cross-sectional dimension over the length portion, and (ii) adjoining channel wall segments which decrease in thickness over the length portion.
A cellular honeycomb body comprising a plurality of longitudinal channels separated from each other by channel walls traversing the body from a first body end face to a second body end face, all of the longitudinal channels being curved about a common axis of curvature, wherein (i) channels having higher radii of curvature have smaller channel cross-sections and thinner channel walls than channels having lower radii of curvature, and (ii) the ratio of each channel cross-section to the thickness of its adjoining channel wall is substantially invariant throughout the body.
A cellular honeycomb body comprising a plurality of parallel open-ended longitudinal channels separated from each other by sintered ceramic channel walls traversing the body from a first body end face to a second body end face, having a cell density in excess of 1600 cells/in2 and a cell wall thickness below 0.004 inches.
A method of producing a cellular structure which comprises the steps of:
- selecting a honeycomb body formed of a plasticized powder batch material, the body having a cellular structure which includes a plurality of parallel channels having predetermined cross-sections;
- filling the channels with a filler material having a plastic deformation behavior compatible with that of the plasticized powder batch material in a selected temperature range, thus to form a filled composite;
- reshaping at least a portion of the filled composite while at a temperature in the selected temperature range to reduce the cross-sections of a plurality of the channels in at least one cross-sectional dimension;
- and
- removing the plastic filler from the channels.
A method in accordance with claim 19 wherein the filler is a hydrophobic material selected from the group consisting of heat softenable vegetable and animal fats, natural and synthesized fatty acids, polyalcohols and esters, paraffins, natural and synthetic hydrocarbon waxes, synthesized thermoplastic polymers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.