Systems and methods for measuring the specific modulus of cellular ceramic bodies

A method of measuring the specific modulus of a ceramic honeycomb structure having first and second ends, comprising:

• a) positioning an ultrasonic transmitter and an ultrasonic receiver adjacent to, but not in contact with, the first and second ends, respectively, so as to define an ultrasonic path between the transmitter and receiver, wherein the ultrasonic path has an associated first time of flight (TOF1) in the absence of the ceramic honeycomb structure;
• b) propagating a pulse of ultrasonic waves from the transmitter to the receiver through a longitudinal portion of the honeycomb structure;
• c) receiving the ultrasonic wave exiting the longitudinal portion at the ultrasonic receiver;
• d) determining a second time of flight (TOF2) from the received ultrasonic wave and calculating a sonic velocity cmat using TOF1 and TOF2;
• e) calculating a specific modulus E/ρ=c2mat for the longitudinal portion,
• wherein E is a Young's modulus and ρ is a density of the ceramic honeycomb structure;
• repeating acts a) through e) for multiple pulses of ultrasonic waves, including passing the multiple pulses of ultrasonic waves through corresponding multiple partially overlapping longitudinal portions of the honeycomb structure, to determine multiple specific modulus values corresponding to the multiple longitudinal portions;
• and
• wherein the longitudinal portions have a cross-sectional diameter Dp, further comprising incrementing the transmitter and receiver by amounts Δ so as to form partially overlapping adjacent longitudinal portions, wherein Δ≦(0.1)Dp.