An exhaust muffler has an outer cylinder into which an exhaust gas from an engine is introduced and a muffling member made of a foamed ceramic material. The outer cylinder has an inner cylinder through which the exhaust gas passes, a part of the muffling member is supported by an outer wall of the inner cylinder via a holding member. The inner cylinder includes, in an area where the inner cylinder overlaps with the muffling member with respect to axial direction of the inner cylinder, a porous wall portion formed with communication holes communicating an inside and an outside of the inner cylinder. The holding member is arranged at a position where it does not overlap with a part of the porous wall portion, so that muffling effect is enhanced, and the muffling member having a low resistance to impact forces can be supported stably by the inner cylinder.

A thermal insulation member is directly or indirectly sandwiched between a first object and a second object and thereby suppresses or interrupts heat transfer between the first object and the second object. The thermal insulation member comprises: a first main surface opposed to the first object; and a second main surface positioned on the opposite side from the first main surface and opposed to the second object. The thermal insulation member has a porous structure of ceramic having pores. ZrO.sub.2 particles and different type material exist on surfaces of the ZrO.sub.2 particles form a skeleton of the porous structure. The different type material includes at least one selected out of SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, La.sub.2O.sub.3, and Y.sub.2O.sub.3.

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.

A heating device for an exhaust system has an electrically conductive foamed part and at least one stabilization part for the foamed part. The foamed part includes two end faces, an outer circumference and at least one recess starting from the outer circumference and extending in the axial direction from one to the other end face. The recesses produce sections which are opposite each other at a distance and continue into each other, forming a current path as a resistance heating element. The stabilization part at least partially fills the recess and mechanically couples the sections to each other, but does not electrically couple them to each other.

An exhaust gas purification catalyst provides excellent removal performance of methane, which is chemically stable. Exhaust gas purification catalyst includes a substrate that divides cells through which an exhaust gas flows and a catalyst layer that is provided on a surface of the substrate. The catalyst layer includes a palladium layer containing palladium that extends from a first end part which is an end part on the side into which an exhaust gas in the cells flows to a second end part which is an end part on the side from which an exhaust gas flows out, a platinum layer containing platinum that extends from the second end part to the first end part, and a rhodium layer containing rhodium that is laminated with both the palladium layer and the platinum layer.

An exhaust muffler has an outer cylinder into which an exhaust gas from an engine is introduced and a muffling member made of a foamed ceramic material. The outer cylinder has an inner cylinder through which the exhaust gas passes, a part of the muffling member is supported by an outer wall of the inner cylinder via a holding member. The inner cylinder includes, in an area where the inner cylinder overlaps with the muffling member with respect to axial direction of the inner cylinder, a porous wall portion formed with communication holes communicating an inside and an outside of the inner cylinder. The holding member is arranged at a position where it does not overlap with a part of the porous wall portion, so that muffling effect is enhanced, and the muffling member having a low resistance to impact forces can be supported stably by the inner cylinder.

Systems and methods for insulating large industrial engines. In various embodiments, the disclosure provides a blanket system including a blanket having three layers. The first layer is composed of ceramic fibers. The second layer is composed of fiberglass cloth and the third layer is composed of wire mesh. The blanket also has a first leading edge and an opposing second leading edge. The second leading edge is substantially parallel to the first leading edge. The blanket also includes a locking mechanism having a movable portion between aligned first and second stationary portions on an outer surface of the blanket. In an unlocked position, the movable portion is connected to the first stationary portion. In a locked position, the movable portion is connected to both the first and second stationary portions and the locking mechanism extends over the first and second leading edges.

An exhaust gas purification catalyst provides excellent removal performance of methane, which is chemically stable. Exhaust gas purification catalyst includes a substrate that divides cells through which an exhaust gas flows and a catalyst layer that is provided on a surface of the substrate. The catalyst layer includes a palladium layer containing palladium that extends from a first end part which is an end part on the side into which an exhaust gas in the cells flows to a second end part which is an end part on the side from which an exhaust gas flows out, a platinum layer containing platinum that extends from the second end part to the first end part, and a rhodium layer containing rhodium that is laminated with both the palladium layer and the platinum layer.

A thermal insulation member is directly or indirectly sandwiched between a first object and a second object and thereby suppresses or interrupts heat transfer between the first object and the second object. The thermal insulation member comprises: a first main surface opposed to the first object; and a second main surface positioned on the opposite side from the first main surface and opposed to the second object. The thermal insulation member has a porous structure of ceramic having pores. ZrO.sub.2 particles and different type material exist on surfaces of the ZrO.sub.2 particles form a skeleton of the porous structure. The different type material includes at least one selected out of SiO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, La.sub.2O.sub.3, and Y.sub.2O.sub.3.

A filter for filtering particulate matter (PM) from exhaust gas emitted from a compression ignition engine, which filter comprising a porous substrate having inlet surfaces and outlet surfaces, wherein the inlet surfaces are separated from the outlet surfaces by a porous structure containing pores of a first mean pore size, wherein the porous substrate is coated with a wash coat comprising a plurality of solid particles comprising a molecular sieve promoted with at least one metal wherein the porous structure of the wash coated porous substrate contains pores of a second mean pore size, and wherein the second mean pore size is less than the first mean pore size.