Method for brazing a metallic honeycomb body for exhaust gas treatment and apparatus for carrying out the method

1. A method for brazing a metallic honeycomb body for exhaust gas treatment, the method comprising the following steps carried out in a continuous-flow process:

a) pretreating a honeycomb body at a temperature above 400° C. in a first furnace to remove water and grease from the honeycomb body in a cleaning step;

b) cooling the honeycomb body;

c) brazing the honeycomb body in a second furnace at a temperature in a range of from 1050° C. to 1100° C. under atmospheric pressure;

d) cooling the honeycomb body; and

carrying out permanent process gas scavenging at least during steps a) and c).

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises carrying out a temperature increase predominantly during step c).

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the process gas has a purity of at least 99.999% during step c).

4. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises forming the honeycomb body of an iron material having chrome and aluminum as main alloying elements, and a chrome fraction being greater than an aluminum fraction by at least a factor of 3.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises carrying out the brazing step with a nickel-based brazing material having chrome, phosphorus and silicon as main additives.

6. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises oxidizing the honeycomb body after step c) in a step e).

7. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises monitoring an oxygen content during step c).

8. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises forming the honeycomb body with aluminum as an alloying material.

9. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises forming the honeycomb body with aluminum as an alloying element having an aluminum fraction lying in a range of 3 to 6% by weight.

10. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises:

e) exposing the honeycomb body to an oxidative environment with temperatures above 600 ° C. after step c).

11. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises, during step e), providing surfaces of the honeycomb body with an aluminum oxide layer serving for corrosion protection.

12. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises, during step e), providing surfaces of the honeycomb body with an aluminum oxide layer preventing diffusion bonds at foil contact points not being brazed to one another but bearing one against the other.

13. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises maintaining step e) for 20 to 60 minutes.

14. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises carrying out step e) directly following step c).

15. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises carrying out cooling and then step e) following step c).

16. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises carrying out steps c) and e) in one common furnace having different ambient conditions separated from one another by separation devices.

17. The method according to claim 16 , which further comprises selecting the different ambient conditions as a presence of oxygen and a protective gas.

18. The method according to claim 16 , which further comprises selecting the separation devices as slides or intermediate walls.

19. The method according to claim 10 , which further comprises carrying out step e) at temperatures below a melting temperature of brazing material, permitting steps e) and c) to be carried out in direct spatial proximity.

20. The method according to claim 19 , which further comprises carrying out step e) at 50° C. below the melting temperature of the brazing material or lower.