Process for manufacturing a component for a catalytic converter

1. A process for manufacturing a component for a catalytic converter, comprising taking a ceramic unit prepared by extruding green ceramic product through a die to form an extrusion having a honeycomb substrate structure having a plurality of elongate tubular passages extending along a length of the extrusion, the passages bounded by walls dividing adjacent passages from one another, the unit being obtained by cutting off a length of the extrusion and curing and firing the cut off length of extrusion, the process further comprising, following the firing, injecting a very low viscosity insulation material comprising a mixture of glass fibres, ceramic slurry, binder, and water from an end of the unit into selected ones of the plurality of elongate passages so as to block selected passages, and heating the injected insulation material solely by the use of microwave irradiation to vaporize the water and thereby form a plurality of pores in the injected insulation material, and subsequently to solidify the injected insulation material around the plurality of pores, and drying the injected insulation material in the solidified condition, the dried injected insulation material forming an internal thermally insulating barrier between a core zone of the unit and a radially outer zone of the wherein the walls dividing adjacent passages from one another are maintained at the site of the insulating barrier.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising using a gasket layer on an input end of the unit, the gasket layer having a first aperture shaped and positioned to limit incursion of the insulation material into passages other than selected passages.

3. The process as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising positioning a second gasket layer at an output end of the ceramic unit, the second gasket layer having a second aperture therein aligned with the selected ones of the plurality of tubular passages.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the flowing insulation material from the end of the unit is such as to at least partially fill a length of each of the selected ones of the passages with the insulation material.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, following curing, the cured insulation material is a matrix of silica containing interconnected air pockets, the air pockets each having a size generally in a range from 1.5 millimeters to 0.3 millimeters across.

6. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the barrier is less than twice and greater than one times a penetration depth of the microwave radiation into an uncured flowed insulation material, the microwave radiation directed from both sides of the internal thermally insulating barrier.

7. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the insulation material is directed through a die to obtain the internal thermally insulating barrier in a generally cylindrical shape.

8. The process as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising incrementally relatively moving an extrusion die and the ceramic unit to optimize registration of an exit aperture of the die to entrance openings of the selected passages.

9. The process as claimed in claim 1 , the solidifying the injected insulation material around the plurality of pores being at least partially obtained by increasing the viscosity of the injected insulation material by further vaporizing and driving off some of the water.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the binder of the insulation material is a heat-activated polymer binder, the solidifying the injected insulation material around the plurality of pores being at least partially obtained by increasing the viscosity of the injected insulation material by the heating of the polymer binder to cause polymerization thereof.