JP2008055737A - Manufacturing method of ceramic honeycomb structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of a ceramic honeycomb structure capable of certainly arranging a closure material. <P>SOLUTION: A film is bonded to the edge surface of a honeycomb structure body, through-holes are provided to the film and the closure material is arranged to the cell end parts provided with the through-holes to manufacture the ceramic honeycomb structure. In forming a through-hole to the film 2 of each cell end part 111, a contour groove forming process for forming a contour groove 21 to the film 2 along the contour of the cell end part 111 is performed and a gravity point-penetrating process for piercing the film 2 in the vicinity of the gravity point of the cell end part 111 is subsequently performed before performing a hole expanding process for widening the center-of-gravity point-penetrating hole 22 formed in the gravity point-penetrating process outward. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure used for an exhaust gas purification filter or the like, in which a part of cell ends are closed.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b), a filter structure that collects particulates in automobile exhaust gas is provided with a large number of cells 88 by partition walls 81, and a part of cells 88. There is a ceramic honeycomb structure 8 whose ends are alternately closed by a closing material 83.
In manufacturing this special shaped ceramic honeycomb structure 8, a honeycomb structure main body 80 in a penetrating state in which the cell end portions 82 at both ends of the cell 88 are opened is produced, and the cell end portion 82 opened at the end face is produced. The closure material 83 is packed into the closed area.

As a method of filling the blocking material 83, there is a method shown in Patent Document 1. That is, first, a film is attached to the end face of the honeycomb structure main body 80. Next, a through hole is made in the film located at the cell end portion 82 to be closed. Next, the end face is immersed in a slurry containing a blocking material, and the slurry is allowed to enter the cell end portion 82 through the through hole. Thereafter, the slurry is cured to form the plugging material 83 and the remaining film is removed.
Thereby, the ceramic honeycomb structure 8 formed by closing a part of the cell end portion 82 is manufactured.

  The through-holes are made in the film by irradiating a predetermined portion of the film with laser light. At this time, the position information of the cell end portion 82 on the end face of the honeycomb structure main body 80 is obtained by the image processing means, and the irradiation position of the laser beam is determined based on this information to make a hole.

  And in forming a through-hole in the film of each cell edge part 82, it winds from the outer periphery of the cell edge part 82 along the outline of the cell edge part 82, and gradually of the cell edge part 82 is carried out. The irradiation position of the laser beam is moved toward the position of the center of gravity. Thereby, the film is melted or incinerated to form a through hole.

However, in the step of forming a through hole in the film, the film melted by irradiation with laser light or the adhesive applied to one surface of the film may adhere to the partition wall 81 of the cell 88. Then, after that, when the slurry is infiltrated into the cell end portion 82 through the through hole and the closing material 83 is disposed, from above the film or adhesive melt adhered to the partition wall 81 of the cell 88 at the cell end portion 82, The blocking material 83 will adhere. After that, when the honeycomb structure is fired, the plugging material 83 is cured, while the film or adhesive between the plugging material 83 and the partition walls 81 of the cells 88 is burned out, and between the plugging material 83 and the partition walls 81. There is a risk that a gap will be formed.
As a result, the function of the plugging material 83 is hindered, and the obtained ceramic honeycomb structure 8 may not function as an exhaust filter, for example.

JP 2002-28915 A

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure capable of reliably disposing a plugging material.

In the present invention, after manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure body having cell end portions opened at the end face, a film is pasted on the end face of the honeycomb structure body so as to cover at least a part of the cell end portions. Then, a through hole is made in the film located at the end of the cell to be closed, and then the end face is immersed in a slurry containing a closing material, and the slurry is infiltrated into the end of the cell through the through hole. A method for producing a ceramic honeycomb structure in which a part of the cell end is closed by curing the slurry and removing the remaining film,
In making the through hole in the film of each cell end, perform a contour groove forming step of forming a contour groove in the film along the contour of the cell end,
Next, a center-of-gravity penetration process is performed to penetrate the film near the center of gravity of the cell edge,
Next, there is provided a method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure, wherein a hole expanding step of expanding the center of gravity through hole formed in the center of gravity through step outward is performed.

Next, the effects of the present invention will be described.
In the method for manufacturing the ceramic honeycomb structure, the contour groove forming step, the center of gravity penetration step, and the hole expanding step are sequentially performed. Thereby, it can prevent that the melt of a film adheres to the partition of the cell in a cell edge part.

That is, in the contour groove forming step, the film melt in this step can be prevented from falling to the inside of the cell by processing in the state of the contour groove without penetrating the film.
Moreover, after performing the said gravity center penetration process, the film will be gradually melt | dissolved outside from the gravity center position of a cell edge part by performing the hole expansion process which expands a gravity center through-hole outward. Therefore, the film melt moves outward along the unmelted film. In particular, the film melt moves along the upper surface of the unmelted film. And finally, a melt can be arrange | positioned to the contour groove formed in the said contour groove formation process. Thereby, it is possible to open the through hole without dropping the film melt into the cell.
As a result, it is possible to prevent the film melted portion from adhering to the partition walls of the cells at the cell end portions where the through holes are provided in the film, and to dispose the blocking material reliably.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure capable of reliably disposing a plugging material.

  In the present invention (invention 1), the film may be a natural material such as cellophane, or a synthetic material such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PP (polypropylene), or polyester. Moreover, it is preferable that an adhesive is disposed on one surface of the film. As the adhesive, for example, a rubber adhesive can be used.

The ceramic honeycomb structure is preferably made of cordierite.
Moreover, it is preferable to process the said film using high-density energy beams, such as a laser beam.
The ceramic honeycomb structure obtained by the production method of the present invention can be used as a filter structure for collecting particulates in, for example, automobile exhaust gas.

The hole expanding step expands the center-of-gravity through hole into a substantially circular shape, and forms a similar shaped hole that is larger than the expanded hole formed in the hole expanding step and has a similar shape to the shape of the cell end. At the same time, it is preferable to perform a similar hole forming step of expanding the similar hole outward.
In this case, it is easy to make the shape of the through hole conform to the shape of the cell end portion, and it becomes possible to more reliably fill the cell end portion with the blocking material.

Moreover, it is preferable that the said contour groove formation process, the said gravity center penetration process, and the said hole expansion process are performed continuously. That is, it is preferable to perform the transition between the respective steps by changing the movement path of the irradiation position between the respective steps, for example, without stopping the emission of the laser beam.
Moreover, it is preferable to perform the said similar hole formation process continuously from the said hole expansion process.

A method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 8, a ceramic honeycomb structure body 10 having cell end portions 111 opened at the end faces is manufactured. Thereafter, the film 2 is attached to the end surface 101 of the honeycomb structure body 10 so as to cover at least a part of the cell end portion 111.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, a through hole 20 is made in the film 2 located at the cell end 111 to be closed.
Next, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the end surface 101 is immersed in the slurry 130 containing the blocking material 13, and the slurry 130 is infiltrated into the cell end 111 through the through hole 20.
Thereafter, the slurry 130 is cured and the remaining film 2 is removed.
Thereby, as shown in FIG. 12, the ceramic honeycomb structure 1 formed by closing a part of the cell end 111 is manufactured.

In forming the through-hole 20 in the film 2 of each cell end 111, first, as shown in FIG. 2, a contour groove forming step for forming the contour groove 21 in the film 2 along the contour of the cell end 111 is performed. Do.
Next, as shown in FIG. 3, a center-of-gravity penetration process for penetrating the film 2 near the center of gravity of the cell end 111 is performed.
Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a hole expansion process is performed in which the center of gravity through hole 22 formed in the center of gravity penetration process is expanded outward.

In the hole expanding step, the center of gravity through hole 22 is expanded into a substantially circular shape.
Then, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, a similar hole 24 is formed which is larger than the expansion hole 23 formed in the hole expansion step and has a similar shape to the shape of the cell end portion 111 and the similar hole. A similar hole forming step of expanding 24 toward the outside is performed.
In this example, the shape of the cell end 111 is a quadrangle, and the similar hole 24 is also a quadrangle.

Hereinafter, an example of the manufacturing method of the ceramic honeycomb structure of the present example will be described in detail.
In this example, first, the honeycomb structure body 10 is manufactured by extrusion molding. Specifically, by using a ceramic material for forming cordierite, a cylindrical long honeycomb structure having a large number of quadrangular cells 11 is manufactured and cut into a predetermined length. As shown in FIG. 8, the honeycomb structure body 10 is formed. The cell end portions 111 of the honeycomb structure body 10 are all open at both end faces 101 thereof.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 8, 9, and 1, a resin film 2 is attached to the entire surface of one end surface 101. As the film 2, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, a thermoplastic resin film having a total thickness of 110 μm in which an adhesive 29 is applied to one surface of the film body 28 is used.
Next, in this example, as shown in FIG. 9, the through-hole 20 is formed by removing the film 2 located at the cell end 111 to be closed using the through-hole forming device 5.

  As shown in the figure, the through-hole forming device 5 includes an image processing means 51 that transmits the film 2 attached to the end face 101 and visually recognizes the position of the cell end 111 to obtain position information, and the film. 2 includes a laser irradiation unit 52 that irradiates the laser beam 520, and a control unit 53 that determines the irradiation position of the laser beam 520 based on position information from the image processing unit 51 and operates the laser irradiation unit 52.

The image processing unit 51 includes a camera unit 511 that captures an image of the end face 101 and an image processing unit 512 that forms image data. A plurality of camera units 511 can be installed according to the width of the end surface 101.
The laser irradiation means 52 has a CO ₂ laser emitting device 521 and a moving device 522 having a built-in control unit thereof. A plurality of CO ₂ laser emitting devices 521 may be installed.

Further, the control means 53 calculates the position and opening area of each cell end 111 based on the image data received from the image processing means 51, finds the position of the cell end 111 to be closed, and The formation position is determined. The information on the through hole forming position is instructed to the laser irradiation means 52 so that the movement and irradiation control of the CO ₂ laser emitting means 521 is performed.

  By using the through hole forming apparatus 5 having such a configuration, first, the end surface 101 of the honeycomb structure body 10 is photographed by the camera unit 511 to create image data. Next, the control means 53 calculates the through hole forming position. In this example, as shown in FIG. 12, the through-hole formation position is determined so that the blocking material 13 is arranged in a checkered pattern in which adjacent cells 11 alternately open and close except for the outer peripheral region. For the outer peripheral region, the through hole forming position is determined so that the blocking material 13 is formed in all the cells 11.

Then, based on the instruction of the control means 53, the laser light 520 is sequentially irradiated from the CO ₂ laser emitting means 521 to the determined through hole forming position to melt or incinerate and remove the film 2 to penetrate. Hole 20 is formed. The light diameter of the laser beam 520 can be set to 0.2 mm, for example.

In forming the through hole 20 in the film 2 of each cell end portion 111, the above-described contour groove forming step, gravity center penetrating step, hole expanding step, and similar hole forming step are performed.
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the contour groove 21 formed in the contour groove forming step is about half the thickness of the film 2 (same as the thickness of the film main body 28) and remains in the thickness of the adhesive 29. (See FIG. 7).

In the center-of-gravity penetration step (FIG. 3), the center-of-gravity position of the cell end 111 is calculated, and the center-of-gravity hole 22 is provided by irradiating the center-of-gravity position with the laser beam 520.
In the hole expansion step (FIG. 4), the expansion hole 23 is formed by gradually expanding the irradiation position of the laser beam 520 in a circular vortex shape from the center of gravity through hole 22 as a starting point.

In the hole expanding step, the center-of-gravity through hole 22 is expanded into a substantially circular shape to form a substantially circular expanded hole 23.
In the similar hole forming step, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a similar hole 24 which is larger than the expansion hole 23 and has a similar shape (square) of the shape of the cell end 111 is formed and the similar hole is formed. The shape hole 24 is expanded outward. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the film 2 is irradiated with the laser beam 520 so as to draw similar shapes (squares) of different sizes, for example, in triplicate.
Finally, the similar hole 24 is expanded to the position of the contour groove 21 formed in the contour groove forming step.

As a result, the end face 101 of the honeycomb structure main body 10 is in a state in which the film 2 having the through holes 20 in the portion located at the cell end 111 at the planned closing position is disposed.
The operations from the pasting of the film 2 to the formation of the through hole are similarly performed on both end faces 101 of the honeycomb structure main body 10. At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, each cell 11 is in a state where one cell end 111 is closed by the film 2 and the through hole 20 is formed in the other cell end 111.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, one end surface 101 is immersed in the slurry 130 containing the blocking material 13, and the slurry 130 is infiltrated into the cell end 111 through the through hole 20.
Thereby, in the end surface 101 of the honeycomb structure main body 10, the slurry 130 permeates and adheres from the cell end portion 111 provided with the through holes 20.
Next, the same operation is performed on the other end surface 101 of the honeycomb structure main body 10 to adhere the slurry 130 to the predetermined cell end 111.

Next, the honeycomb structure main body 10 in which the slurry 130 has entered the cell end 111 is dried and then fired.
As a result, the slurry 130 is fired and solidified to form the plugging material 13, and the film 2 attached to the end face 101 is removed by incineration. Thereby, the ceramic honeycomb structure 1 in which a part of the cell end portions 111 is closed is obtained.
The ceramic honeycomb structure 1 can be used, for example, as a filter structure that collects particulates in automobile exhaust gas.

Next, the function and effect of this example will be described.
In the method for manufacturing the ceramic honeycomb structure 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, the contour groove forming step, the center of gravity penetration step, and the hole expanding step are sequentially performed. Thereby, it can prevent that the melt of the film 2 adheres to the partition 12 of the cell 11 in the cell edge part 111. FIG.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 2, in the above-mentioned contour groove forming step, the film 2 is not penetrated and processed in the state of the contour groove 21 to prevent the film melt in this step from falling inside the cell 11. can do.

  Further, after performing the center of gravity penetration step, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, by performing a hole expansion step of expanding the center of gravity through hole 22 toward the outside, the film 2 is moved outward from the center of gravity of the cell end 111. Will gradually melt. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7A, the film melt 209 (the melt of the film main body 28 and / or the adhesive 29) moves outward so as to travel along the unmelted film 2. It becomes. In particular, the film melt 209 moves along the upper surface of the unmelted film 2. And finally, as shown to FIG. 7 (B), the film melt 209 can be arrange | positioned in the contour groove 21 formed in the said contour groove formation process. Thereby, it is possible to open the through hole 20 without dropping the film melt 209 into the cell 11.

  As a result, it is possible to suppress the film melting portion 209 from adhering to the partition wall 12 of the cell 11 at the cell end portion 111 in which the through hole 20 is provided in the film 2, and the blocking material 13 can be reliably disposed.

  Further, in the hole expanding step, the center of gravity through hole 22 is expanded into a substantially circular shape, and the similar hole 24 is further formed and the similar hole 24 is expanded outward. Therefore, it is easy to make the shape of the through hole 20 along the shape of the cell end portion 111, and it becomes possible to more reliably fill the cell end portion 111 with the blocking material 13.

  As described above, according to this example, it is possible to provide a method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure in which the plugging material can be reliably disposed.

Sectional drawing of the cell edge part which affixed the film in an Example. The (A) top view and (B) sectional drawing of the film after an outline groove | channel formation process in an Example. The (A) top view and (B) sectional drawing of the film after a gravity center penetration process in an Example. The (A) top view of the film after the hole expansion process in an Example, (B) Sectional drawing. The (A) top view and (B) sectional drawing of the film in the middle of a similar shape hole formation process in an Example. The (A) top view and (B) sectional drawing of the film after a similar hole formation process in an Example. Cross-sectional explanatory drawing explaining the movement of the film melt in an Example. The perspective view of the honeycomb structure main body and a film in an Example. Explanatory drawing of the through-hole formation method using the through-hole formation apparatus in an Example. Explanatory drawing of the dipping to the slurry of the obstruction | occlusion material in an Example. Explanatory drawing of the state which made the slurry of the obstruction | occlusion material adhere to the cell edge part in an Example. The perspective explanatory drawing of the ceramic honeycomb structure in an Example. The longitudinal cross-sectional view and end surface front view of a ceramic honeycomb in a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ceramic honeycomb structure 10 Honeycomb structure main body 101 End surface 11 Cell 111 Cell edge part 12 Partition 13 Blocking material 2 Film 20 Through-hole 21 Contour groove 22 Center-of-gravity through-hole 23 Expansion hole 24 Similar shape hole

Claims (2)

After manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure main body with the cell end portion opened at the end surface, a film is attached to the end surface of the honeycomb structure main body so as to cover at least a part of the cell end portion, and then closed A through hole is made in the film located at the end of the cell, and then the end face is immersed in a slurry containing a blocking material, and the slurry is infiltrated into the end of the cell through the through hole. A method for producing a ceramic honeycomb structure in which a part of the cell end is closed by curing and removing the remaining film,
In making the through hole in the film of each cell end, perform a contour groove forming step of forming a contour groove in the film along the contour of the cell end,
Next, a center-of-gravity penetration process is performed to penetrate the film near the center of gravity of the cell edge,
Next, a method for manufacturing a ceramic honeycomb structure, comprising performing a hole expanding step of expanding the center of gravity through hole formed in the center of gravity through step outward.   2. The similar hole according to claim 1, wherein the hole expanding step expands the center-of-gravity through hole into a substantially circular shape, and is larger than the expanded hole formed in the hole expanding step and has a similar shape to the shape of the cell end. And a similar hole forming step of expanding the similar hole toward the outside.

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