Aluminum titanate-containing particles made up of a conglomerate of multiple partial grains. The aluminum titanate-containing particles are formed by breaking apart ceramic bodies along cracks, which are formed predominantly through the grains, rather than between the grains. Batch mixtures forming the aluminum titanate-containing particles, as well as batch mixtures utilizing the aluminum titanate particles are disclosed. Green bodies, such as green honeycomb bodies having peak intensity ratios (PIRs) in an axial direction of less than or equal to 0.50, ceramic honeycomb bodies, methods of manufacturing green honeycomb bodies, and ceramic honeycomb bodies are provided, as are other aspects.

A honeycomb filter includes a honeycomb structure having a porous partition wall disposed to surround a plurality of cells; and a plugging portion provided at one end of the cell, wherein the honeycomb structure has an inflow side region including a range of up to at least 30% with respect to the total length of the honeycomb structure with the inflow end face as the starting point and an outflow side region including a range of up to at least 20% with respect to the total length of the honeycomb structure with the outflow end face as the starting point, in the extending direction of the cell of the honeycomb structure, an average pore diameter of the partition wall in the inflow side region is 9 to 14 μm and an average pore diameter of the partition wall in the outflow side region is 15 to 20 μm.

A system and method to dry plug cement in a ceramic honeycomb body during the manufacture of plugged ceramic honeycomb bodies. The system includes a heating element (520) configured to immediately heat without contact a face (502) of a ceramic honeycomb body (500) plugged with a wet plug cement (510) to rapidly dry and stiffen the plug cement (510) on the face (502) of the ceramic honeycomb body (500). The method includes immediately applying heat without contact to a face (502) of a ceramic honeycomb body (500) having wet plug cement (510) disposed in channels (508) of the ceramic honeycomb body at the face, and rapidly drying and stiffening the plug cement on the face of the ceramic honeycomb body.

A system and method to dry plug cement in a ceramic honeycomb body during the manufacture of plugged ceramic honeycomb bodies. The system includes a heating element (520) configured to immediately heat without contact a face (502) of a ceramic honeycomb body (500) plugged with a wet plug cement (510) to rapidly dry and stiffen the plug cement (510) on the face (502) of the ceramic honeycomb body (500). The method includes immediately applying heat without contact to a face (502) of a ceramic honeycomb body (500) having wet plug cement (510) disposed in channels (508) of the ceramic honeycomb body at the face, and rapidly drying and stiffening the plug cement on the face of the ceramic honeycomb body.

This disclosure relates to a high cBN content polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, PCBN, material. The binder matrix material comprises 2 to 15 wt. % titanium diboride (TiB2).

A honeycomb filter body comprises: a clean filter pressure drop of (P.sub.1) and a clean filtration efficiency of (FE.sub.1); a porous ceramic honeycomb body comprising a first end, a second end, and a plurality of walls having wall surfaces defining a plurality of inner channels, the porous ceramic honeycomb body comprising a base clean filter pressure drop (P.sub.0) and a base clean filtration efficiency (FE.sub.0); and a porous inorganic layer disposed on one or more of the wall surfaces of the porous ceramic honeycomb body.

A honeycomb filter body comprises: a clean filter pressure drop of (P.sub.1) and a clean filtration efficiency of (FE.sub.1); a porous ceramic honeycomb body comprising a first end, a second end, and a plurality of walls having wall surfaces defining a plurality of inner channels, the porous ceramic honeycomb body comprising a base clean filter pressure drop (P.sub.0) and a base clean filtration efficiency (FE.sub.0); and a porous inorganic layer disposed on one or more of the wall surfaces of the porous ceramic honeycomb body.

Methods of producing a ceramic article include heating the ceramic green body containing a quantity of one or more organic materials to extract only a fraction of the organic materials from the ceramic green body by exposing the ceramic green body to a process atmosphere which is heated to a hold temperature of from 225° C. to about 400° C. and has from 2% to 7% O.sub.2 by volume of the process atmosphere. The method further includes cooling the ceramic green body to a temperature of below 200° C., exposing the ceramic green body to a higher concentration of O.sub.2 than in the process atmosphere of the heating step, and firing the ceramic green body to form the ceramic article. Volatile extraction units for implementing the methods are also described.

A cement mixture for application to a honeycomb body and a method of forming a plugged ceramic honeycomb body is provided. The cement mixture contains a plurality of inorganic particles including at least about 50% of a refractory material selected from at least one of alumina and zirconia and less than about 15% titania (by weight), a pore forming agent, an organic binder, and a liquid vehicle.

A cement mixture for application to a honeycomb body and a method of forming a plugged ceramic honeycomb body is provided. The cement mixture contains a plurality of inorganic particles including at least about 50% of a refractory material selected from at least one of alumina and zirconia and less than about 15% titania (by weight), a pore forming agent, an organic binder, and a liquid vehicle.