The invention relates to a wall-flow filter as a particle filter with catalytically active coatings in the channels which are closed in a gas-tight manner at the opposing closed ends of the channels A at the first end, wherein the inlet region of the filter is additionally supplied with a dry powder-gas aerosol which contains metal compounds with a high melting point (such as the metal oxides Al203, Si02, Fe02, Ti02, Zn02, etc. for example) and which is to simultaneously improve the catalytic activity and the degree of filtration efficiency with respect to the exhaust gas back-pressure.

A particle adhesion device includes: a holder; a chamber; a nozzle; an intake port; and a flow control member. The holder holds a filter substrate having a first end face and a second end face. The chamber is in communication with the holder and is arranged so that the first end face of the filter substrate faces a space in the chamber. The nozzle is arranged on an opposite surface of the chamber opposing to the first end face of the filter substrate, and can inject an aerosol containing particles toward the first end face of the filter substrate. The intake port is provided on the opposite surface of the chamber and can incorporate an ambient gas. The flow control member is arranged on the opposite surface provided with the intake port, and can control the flow of the ambient gas.

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 structure includes a central area and a reinforced outer peripheral area. For a boundary cell having cell walls with different wall thicknesses on two sides parallel with an imaginary parallel line, a thin wall thickness t1<a thick wall thickness t3, an inner wall thickness t2<an outer wall thickness t4, t1=t2, and t3=t4. The honeycomb structure includes a cross-shaped unit having a thin wall, an inner wall, a cell wall, and a cell wall and a cross-shaped unit having a thick wall, an outer wall, a cell wall, and a cell wall. The honeycomb structure also includes cross-shaped units extending vertically and horizontally from alternate cell vertexes arranged from a cell vertex as a starting point. In the central area and the reinforced outer peripheral area, the cell walls of each cross-shaped unit have a substantially equal wall thickness.

A catalyst-coated, plugged honeycomb body having a honeycomb structure with a matrix of porous walls forming a plurality of channels, at least some of the plurality of channels being plugged to form inlet channels and outlet channels. At least some of the porous walls are filtration walls and at least some of the porous walls are non-filtration walls. A catalyst is preferentially disposed on the non-filtration walls, wherein the catalyst being preferentially disposed comprises CR<0.2 wherein CR is a coating ratio defined as an average percent loading of a washcoat containing the catalyst on and within the filtration walls divided by an average percent loading of the washcoat containing the catalyst on and within the non-filtration walls. Methods and apparatus configured to preferentially apply a catalyst-containing slurry to the non-filtration walls are provided, as are other aspects.

A particulate filter disclosed herein includes a wall-flow structure substrate 10 and a wash coat layer 20 held inside a partition 16 of the substrate 10. The wash coat layer 20 includes an inlet layer 22 formed to have predetermined length L.sub.A and thickness T.sub.A from near an end thereof on an exhaust gas inflow side X1, and an outlet layer 24 formed to have predetermined length L.sub.B and thickness T.sub.B from near an end thereof on an exhaust gas outflow side X2. The inlet layer 22 and the outlet layer 24 partially overlap each other. In the particulate filter disclosed herein, the inlet layer 22 contains a precious metal catalyst, while the outlet layer 24 contains substantially no precious metal catalyst. The length L.sub.A of the inlet layer is 50% or more and 75% or less of a total length L of the partition 16. Thus, the particulate filter is capable of achieving both PM collection performance and pressure-drop reduction performance at high levels.

A method for manufacturing a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure filter including; attaching ceramic particles to a surface of the first cells by ejecting an aerosol including the ceramic particles toward the inlet side end surface from a direction perpendicular to the inlet side end surface while applying a suction force to the outlet side end surface to suck the ejected aerosol from the inlet side end surface, wherein the ejection of the aerosol is carried out using an aerosol generator including a drive gas flow path for flowing a pressurized drive gas, a supply port provided on the way of the drive gas flow path and capable of sucking the ceramic particles from an outer peripheral side of the drive gas flow path toward an inside of the drive gas flow path, and a nozzle attached to a tip of the drive gas flow path and capable of ejecting the aerosol.

A pillar-shaped honeycomb structure including a plurality of first cells extending from an inlet side end surface to an outlet side end surface, and a plurality of second cells extending from the inlet side end surface to the outlet side end surface, with a porous partition wall interposed therebetween, wherein a porous film having a porosity higher than that of the partition walls is provided on a surface of each of the first cells, and at a cross-section orthogonal to the direction in which the first cells of the pillar-shaped honeycomb structure filter extend, the average thickness of the porous film in the central portion is larger than the average thickness of the porous film in the outer peripheral portion.

A method and extrusion die to form a laminar integral skin of a honeycomb structure is provided. The method includes extruding a ceramic precursor batch through a die with feedholes in entry side and slots in exit face of the die to form the honeycomb structure. In a region on the periphery of the die configured to form the cell matrix, a series of concentric slots around the matrix in the exit face of the die are configured to feed skin onto the matrix. Ring sections between concentric slots are angled away from the center and a mask is disposed on top of the periphery producing a channel for extruded skin to meet and bond to extruded matrix. Optionally, slots in the skin-forming ring sections enhance knitting between laminar skin layers.

A method of making a porous structure configured for use in a particulate filter includes bonding a plurality of glass bubbles to one another, and breaching the plurality of glass bubbles. Voids within individual breached glass bubbles open into one another to form cavities that extend through the porous structure.