A honeycomb filter includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure body having a porous partition wall disposed to surround a plurality of cells and a plugging portion provided at an open end on a first end face side or a second end face side of each of the cells, wherein the partition wall is composed of a material containing cordierite as a main component thereof, a number per unit area of pores which exist at a surface of the partition wall and which have equivalent circle diameters exceeding 3.0 μm is 1400 per mm.sup.2 or more, and, in a pore diameter distribution which indicates a cumulative pore volume of the partition wall, with a log pore diameter on a horizonal axis and a log differential pore volume (cm.sup.3/g) on a vertical axis, a half-value width of a first peak that includes a maximum value of the log differential pore volume is 0.30 or less.

A honeycomb filter includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure body having a porous partition wall disposed to surround a plurality of cells which serve as fluid through channels extending from a first end face to a second end face; and a plugging portion provided at an open end on the first end face side or the second end face side of each of the cells, wherein the partition wall is composed of a material containing cordierite as a main component thereof, and a number per unit area of pores which exist at a surface of the partition wall and which have equivalent circle diameters exceeding 3.0 μm is 600 per mm.sup.2 or more.

A honeycomb filter includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure body having a porous partition wall disposed to surround a plurality of cells which serve as fluid through channels extending from a first end face to a second end face; and a plugging portion provided at an open end on the first end face side or the second end face side of each of the cells, wherein the partition wall is composed of a material containing cordierite as a main component thereof, and a number per unit area of pores which exist at a surface of the partition wall and which have equivalent circle diameters exceeding 3.0 μm is 600 per mm.sup.2 or more.

A manufacturing method of a honeycomb filter includes a kneaded material preparation process, a forming process, and a firing process, wherein the cordierite forming raw material contains porous silica as an inorganic pore former, in a cumulative particle size distribution of the cordierite forming raw material, particle diameters (μm) of 10% by volume, 50% by volume, and 90% by volume of the total volume from a small diameter side, are denoted by D.sub.(a) 10, D.sub.(a) 50 and D.sub.(a) 90, respectively, and a particle diameter (μm) of 50% by volume of the total volume from the small diameter side is denoted by D.sub.(b) 50 in a cumulative particle size distribution of the organic pore former, and the cordierite forming raw material and the organic pore former satisfy given expressions.

A manufacturing method of a honeycomb filter includes a kneaded material preparation process, a forming process, and a firing process, wherein the cordierite forming raw material contains porous silica as an inorganic pore former, in a cumulative particle size distribution of the cordierite forming raw material, particle diameters (μm) of 10% by volume, 50% by volume, and 90% by volume of the total volume from a small diameter side, are denoted by D.sub.(a) 10, D.sub.(a) 50 and D.sub.(a) 90, respectively, and a particle diameter (μm) of 50% by volume of the total volume from the small diameter side is denoted by D.sub.(b) 50 in a cumulative particle size distribution of the organic pore former, and the cordierite forming raw material and the organic pore former satisfy given expressions.

A honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb segment bonded member including; a plurality of prismatic columnar shaped honeycomb segments; and a bonding layer bonding the segments, wherein one honeycomb segment has a bulge on one side face, extending in an axial direction, another honeycomb segment has a recess on one side face, extending in the axial direction, the one honeycomb segment and the another are disposed adjacent and bonded to each other via the bonding layer with the bulge inserted in the recess, length of the bulge is smaller than length of the one side face of the one honeycomb segment, length of the recess is smaller than length of the one side face of the another honeycomb segment, a base part of the bulge is defined with a bent side face, an angle between an imaginary bottom face and the bent side face of the bulge being 60° or more.

A honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb segment bonded member including; a plurality of prismatic columnar shaped honeycomb segments; and a bonding layer bonding the segments, wherein one honeycomb segment has a bulge on one side face, extending in an axial direction, another honeycomb segment has a recess on one side face, extending in the axial direction, the one honeycomb segment and the another are disposed adjacent and bonded to each other via the bonding layer with the bulge inserted in the recess, length of the bulge is smaller than length of the one side face of the one honeycomb segment, length of the recess is smaller than length of the one side face of the another honeycomb segment, a base part of the bulge is defined with a bent side face, an angle between an imaginary bottom face and the bent side face of the bulge being 60° or more.

A honeycomb structure, including: a plurality of pillar shaped honeycomb segments, each of the pillar shaped honeycomb segments including a partition wall and a plugged portion; and a joining layer arranged so as to join side surfaces of the pillar shaped honeycomb segments to each other. The honeycomb structure satisfies the following equations (1) to (3):

y≤1000  (1);

y≤717.92x.sup.−0.095  (2); and

y≥462.4x.sup.−0.153  (3),

in which y is a maximum temperature (° C.) at which the use of the honeycomb structure is accepted, and x is a thermal conduction factor represented by the following equation:

thermal conduction factor=(thermal conductivity of the partition wall×thermal conductivity of the joining layer)/(average thickness of the joining layer×porosity of the partition wall).

A honeycomb structure, including: a plurality of pillar shaped honeycomb segments, each of the pillar shaped honeycomb segments including a partition wall and a plugged portion; and a joining layer arranged so as to join side surfaces of the pillar shaped honeycomb segments to each other. The honeycomb structure satisfies the following equations (1) to (3):

y≤1000  (1);

y≤717.92x.sup.−0.095  (2); and

y≥462.4x.sup.−0.153  (3),

in which y is a maximum temperature (° C.) at which the use of the honeycomb structure is accepted, and x is a thermal conduction factor represented by the following equation:

thermal conduction factor=(thermal conductivity of the partition wall×thermal conductivity of the joining layer)/(average thickness of the joining layer×porosity of the partition wall).

A honeycomb structure includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure body having porous partition walls surrounding a plurality of cells which extend from a first to a second end face and which form flow channels of a fluid, and a circumferential wall enclosing the partition walls, wherein, specific cell of the cells is provided with a pair of projection which projects into the cell from the partition wall, the projection projects, in at least a pair of opposed partition walls among the partition walls constituting the cell, into the cell from a first and a second side, and which is provided continuously in a direction the cell extends, and in the case where the width of a top part of the projection is denoted by W1, and the width of a bottom part of the projection is denoted by W2, W1>W2 holds, and W2/W1 is 0.5 to 0.9.