Methods for fabricating selectively plugged honeycomb structures

摘要

Methods for selectively plugging cells of a honeycomb structure for the fabrication of solid particulate filter bodies and other applications in which plugs are first formed at one end of all of the cells of the structure and then are removed from the ends of some of the cells by moving the plugs in those cells through the structure to their opposing ends or by removing those plugs entirely from the cells and the structure. The former method suitably positions plugs to form a filter body. The latter method must be repeated at both open end faces of the honeycomb structure in order to form a filter body. The latter method may be practiced by removing the plugs with a vacuum or by pushing the plugs out or through and out the structure. The invention also includes several apparatus embodiments for removing/moving a selected subset of the plugs formed in the same end portion of a multiplicity of cells of a honeycomb structure.