A plugged honeycomb structure in which in a cross section of a honeycomb structure body which is perpendicular to an extending direction of cells, inflow cells are disposed to surround an outflow cell, and the number of the inflow cells is larger than the number of the outflow cells, and the cross section has a plurality of intersecting portions of partition walls each defining the inflow cells which are adjacent to each other, and in 60% or more of a total number of the intersecting portions, a relation between a diameter (D.sub.1) of a circle inscribed in the intersecting portion and a diameter (D.sub.0) of a circle inscribed in the partition wall defining the inflow cell and the outflow cell which are adjacent to each other satisfies D.sub.1/(√2×D.sub.0)=1.20 to 1.80

A honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb structure body that includes a porous partition wall which defines a plurality of cells serving as through channels of fluid and extending from an inflow end face as one end face to an outflow end face as the other end face, and a circumferential wall arranged on a circumferential surface of the honeycomb structure body. The circumferential wall has a thickness of 0.5 to 4.0 mm, a gap path is formed along a surface of the circumferential wall inside the circumferential wall, the gap path has a width of 0.4 to 4.0 mm, and has a height of 50 to 99% of the thickness of the circumferential wall, and a total length of the gap path is 1000% or more of a length in the cell extending direction of the honeycomb structure body.

The honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb structure body having porous partition walls, and a plugging portion disposed in one of open ends of each cell, a thickness of the partition walls is 0.30 mm or more and 0.51 mm or less, a cell density is 30 cells/cm.sup.2 or more and 93 cells/cm.sup.2 or less, a filtration area (cm.sup.2) of inflow cells included per cm.sup.3 of the honeycomb structure body is defined as an inflow side filtration area G (cm.sup.2/cm.sup.3), a value obtained by dividing a pore volume Vp (cm.sup.3) formed in the partition walls by a total volume Va (L) including the cells is defined as a pore volume ratio A (cm.sup.3/L), and in this case, a product of the inflow side filtration area G (cm.sup.2/cm.sup.3) and the pore volume ratio A (cm.sup.3/L) is 1800 cm.sup.2/L or more and 3200 cm.sup.2/L or less.

A honeycomb filter includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb substrate including a porous partition wall that defines a plurality of cells extending from an inflow end face to an outflow end face, an inflow side plugging portion disposed at the inflow end face of the honeycomb substrate to plug open ends of outflow cells and an outflow side plugging portion disposed at the outflow end face of the honeycomb substrate to plug open ends of inflow cells other than the outflow cells. The honeycomb substrate includes the partition wall that defines two of the inflow cells by division. An average of the plugging length L.sub.IN of the inflow side plugging portions disposed in the outflow cells of the honeycomb substrate is larger than an average of the plugging length L.sub.OUT of the outflow side plugging portions disposed in the inflow cells of the honeycomb substrate.

A honeycomb filter includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb substrate including a porous partition wall that defines a plurality of cells extending from an inflow end face to an outflow end face, an inflow side plugging portion disposed at the inflow end face of the honeycomb substrate to plug open ends of outflow cells; and an outflow side plugging portion disposed at the outflow end face of the honeycomb substrate to plug open ends of inflow cells other than the outflow cells. The honeycomb substrate includes the partition wall that defines two of the inflow cells by division. An average of the plugging length L.sub.OUT of the outflow side plugging portions disposed in the inflow cells of the honeycomb substrate is larger than an average of the plugging length L.sub.IN of the inflow side plugging portions disposed in the outflow cells of the honeycomb substrate.

A honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb structure body including porous partition walls defining a plurality of cells serving as fluid passages extending from an inflow end face to an outflow end face. A porosity of the partition walls is from 45 to 65%, an open frontal area of pores having an equivalent circle diameter of 10 um or more is from 20 to 40%, a pore density of pores having an equivalent circle diameter of 10 μm or more is from 350 to 1,000 pores/mm.sup.2 and a median opening diameter of the pores having an equivalent circle diameter of 10 μm or more is from 40 to 60 μm, where the median opening diameter is the median value of the equivalent circle diameters.

A plugged honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb structure body, and a plurality of plugging portions, the honeycomb structure body further includes pass-through hole portions each of which is formed in at least a part of a partition wall intersection portion in which the partition walls intersect in one end face and each of which interconnects a pair of cells facing each other at a position corresponding to the partition wall intersection portion to enable pass-through of a fluid, and a value obtained by dividing a diameter of a first virtual inscribed circle inscribed at a position of a minimum hole width of the pass-through hole portion by a diameter of a second virtual inscribed circle inscribed at a position of a minimum plugging width between the plugging portions facing each other is in a range of 0.05 to 0.74.

A plugged honeycomb segment includes a honeycomb segment having a quadrangular prism shape which includes porous partition walls arranged to surround a plurality of cells and an outermost circumferential wall, and a plugging portion, wherein a porosity of the partition walls is 30 to 70%, in a cross section orthogonal to the cell extending direction, an inflow cell surrounded by the partition walls is a hexagon, and an outflow cell is a square, one outflow cell is surrounded by four inflow cells, the cell located at the outermost circumference includes a complete cell and an incomplete cell, and a thickness of the outermost circumferential wall in contact with the incomplete cell (T1), a thickness of the outermost circumferential wall in contact with the complete cell (T2), and a thickness of the partition walls (WT), satisfy 0.200 mm<T1<T2−(½×WT) and T2≤0.700 mm.

A honeycomb filter includes a honeycomb structure body having a porous partition wall disposed to surround a plurality of cells and a plugging portion disposed at one end of the cells, wherein the plurality of cells are arranged in a square grid pattern along a first direction and a second direction in a section orthogonal to an extending direction of the cells, the shape in the section is a deformed square having a specific corner, the specific corner includes a first curved portion, a second curved portion, and a connecting portion, a radius of curvature R1 of the first curved portion and a radius of curvature R2 of the second curved portion are 40 to 80 μm, respectively, and a center distance between a center of curvature O1 of the first curved portion and a center of curvature O2 of the second curved portion is 80 to 200 μm.

An object of the present invention is to provide a honeycomb filter capable of achieving a combination of high collection efficiency and low pressure loss. The honeycomb filter comprises a ceramic honeycomb substrate in which a multitude of cells through which a fluid flows are disposed in parallel in a longitudinal direction and are separated by cell walls, each cell being sealed at an end section at either the fluid inlet side or the fluid outlet side, and a filter layer which, among the surfaces of the cell walls, is formed on the surface of the cell walls of those cells in which the end section at the fluid inlet side is open and the end section at the fluid outlet side is sealed by a sealing material, wherein the thickness of the filter layer increases gradually from the fluid inlet side toward the fluid outlet side.