Method of inspecting die for forming honeycomb structure

Abstract: A method of inspecting a die (1) having slits (2) of narrow widths and a number of rear apertures (3) communi­ cating with the slits for forming honeycomb structures ascertaining roughness distributions on inner surfaces of the rear apertures of the die. The method includes irradiating diffused light beams onto an end face of the die on a side of the slits (2), detecting intensities of light beams arrived at an end face of the die on a side of the rear apertures (3) by irregular reflection at inner surfaces of the rear apertures by the use of photosensitive device such as sensitized paper (9) arranged at the end face of the die on the side of the rear apertures, and finally determining roughness distributions of the inner surfaces of the number of rear apertures from the bright and dark portions on the photosensitive device.

Description: This invention relates to a method of inspecting a die for forming honeycomb structures, and more particularly to a method of inspecting a die for forming honeycomb structures, which is able to precisely inspect worked conditions of inner surfaces in a great many rear apertures for supplying ceramic batches into the die. Ceramic honeycomb structures have been widely used as catalyst carriers for purifying exhaust gases of automobiles. Such ceramic honeycomb structures are generally formed by extruding ceramic batches through a honeycomb forming die having slits of narrow widths of the order of 0.1-0.2 mm and a great number (as much as thousands) of rear apertures communicating with the slits for supplying the ceramic batches. It is obvious that the quality of formed honeycomb structures is directly affected by configurations and dimensional accuracy of the slits of such honeycomb forming dies. In addition, since flow resistance of ceramic batches passing through rear apertures of the die is affected by roughness of inner surfaces of the rear apertures for supplying the ceramic batches, it is needed to work the rear apertures so as to obtain uniform inner surface roughness in order to prevent malformed honeycomb structures. However, these rear apertures are numerous and very deep relative to their diameters so that surface roughness tester could not be used for measuring surface roughness on inner surfaces of the rear apertures. There has been no suitable inspecting method for this purpose. Therefore, when a new honeycomb forming die is used, it is unavoidable that the die is set in an extruding machine and honeycomb structures are actually formed whose defects are used for determining whether roughness of the rear apertures of the die fulfil the requirement or not. Such a judgment requires troublesome and time-consuming operations and gives rise to confusion in a production shop. It is an object of the invention to provide a method of inspecting dies for forming honeycomb structures, which eliminates all the disadvantages of the prior art and is capable of simply and precisely inspecting roughness distributions, greatly affecting quality of honeycomb structures, of inner surfaces of rear apertures for supplying ceramic batches. With this in mind, the method of inspecting a die having slits of narrow widths and a number of rear apertures communicating with the slits for forming honeycomb structures by extruding batches through said die according to the invention, comprises steps of irradiating light onto an end face of the die on a side of the slits, detecting intensities of light beams arriving at an end face of the die on a side of the rear apertures by irregular reflection at inner surfaces of the rear apertures by means of photosensitive means and determining roughness distributions of the inner surfaces of the number of rear apertures from relative intensities at the photosensitive means. The invention will be more fully understood by referring to the following detailed description of an embodiment, illustrated in the appended drawings. Fig. 1 is a sectional view for explaining one inspection method embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of main parts shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a plan view illustrating images obtained on photosensitive means used in the embodiment. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a die 1 for forming honeycomb structures, which is to be inspected. The die 1 includes a number of slits 2 having very narrow widths and a number (as much as thousands) of rear apertures 3 communicating with the slits 2, respectively, for supplying ceramic batches. Such a die 1 is arranged through a support glass plate 6 and a light diffusion plate 7 such as a ground glass on an open upper surface of an inspection table 5 having light sources 4 therein. In this case, an end face of the die 1 on a side of the slits 2 is arranged facing to the light diffusion plate 7. It is further preferable to arrange the light sources 4 and the support glass plate 6 so that light beams from the light sources 4 have substantially equal intensities at a surface of the support glass plate 6 as shown in Fig. 2. It is further preferable to provide a fan 8 for cooling the inside of the inspection table 5. On the other hand, photosensitive means 9 is provided on the other end face of the die 1 on a side of the rear apertures 3. The photosensitive means 9 is, for example, a sensitized paper which is brought into close contact with the end face of the die 1 by means of a weight 10. In this case, it is preferable to use light sources 4 radiating light beams of wave lengths to which the sensitized paper is most susceptible. As an alternative, means such as an image reader may be used as the photosensitive means 9, which is able to directly convert intensities of light into electric signals which are arithmetically processed to output inspection results onto a TV monitor. With this arrangement, when light beams of the uniform intensity diffused through the light diffusion plate 6 are directed onto the end face of the die 1 on the side of the slits 2, the diffused light beams are irradiated uniformly into the number (as much as thousands) of the rear apertures 3 and irregularly reflected at inner surfaces of the rear apertures 3 to arrive at the end face of the die 1 on the side of the rear apertures 3. In this case, if roughnesses of the inner surfaces of the rear apertures 3 are fairly large, the degree of the irregular reflection becomes large. On the other hand, if the roughnesses of the inner surfaces of the rear apertures 3 are small, the degree of the irregular reflection becomes small. Therefore, the intensity of the diffused light beams arrived at the end face of the die 1 on the side of the rear apertures 3 through rear apertures having rougher inner surfaces is lower than that of the diffused light beams through rear apertures having smoother inner surfaces. Such an intensity of the diffused light beams can be detected by the degree of bright and dark of light beams with the aid of the photosensitive means 9 such as a sensitized paper located on the end face of the die 1 on the side of the rear apertures 3. It is necessary to bring the photosensitive means 9 into close contact with the end face of the die 1 on the side of the rear apertures 3 in order to improve the inspection accuracy. If there is any clearance between the photosensitive means 9 and the end face of the die 1, clear bright and dark images may not be obtained. Fig. 3 illustrates examples of the images obtained on the photosensitive means 9. It is clear from the illustration that rear apertures 3 of the die 1 corresponding to partially dark portions 11 were worked badly or with rougher inner surfaces. The die 1 whose images were shown in Fig. 3 was actually set in an extruder to form honeycomb structures. As a result, it was ascertained that flowing resistance of ceramic batches through the apertures corresponding to the dark portions 11 was larger than those through remaining apertures. Therefore, the extrusion of the ceramic batch through the apertures corresponding to the dark portions was delayed so that structures (formed bodies) having uniform sections could not be obtained. As can be seen from the above description, according to the invention diffused light beams having substantially equal intensities are irradiated from an end face of a die for forming honeycomb structures on a side of slits thereof and intensities of the light beams arrived at the other end face of the die on a side of rear apertures are detected in a simple manner by means of photosensitive means arranged on the other end face of the die. Accordingly, roughness distributions of inner surfaces of great number (as much as thousands) of the rear apertures of the die can be inspected easily and precisely only by one operation according to the invention. Therefore, according to the invention the quality of a die for forming honeycomb structures can be determined rapidly without forming trial honeycomb structures. The method of inspecting dies for forming honeycomb structures according to the invention can thus eliminate all the disadvantages of the prior art.

Claims: A method of inspecting a die (1) having slits (2) of narrow widths and a number of rear apertures (3) communicating with the slits for forming honeycomb structures by extruding batches through said die, said method comprising steps of irradiating diffused light beams onto an end face of the die on a side of the slits, detecting intensities of light beams arrived at an end face of the die on a side of the rear apertures by irregular reflection at inner surfaces of the rear apertures by means of photosensitive means (9) arranged at the end face of the die on the side of the rear apertures, and determining roughness distributions of the inner surfaces of the number of rear apertures from relatively bright and dark portions on the photosensitive means. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein a sensitized paper is used as said photosensitive means. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein an image reader is used as said photosensitive means. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said diffused light beams have a wave length to which said photosensitive means is susceptible. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said photosensitive means is in close contact with the end face of the die on the side of the rear apertures.

Inventors: NAKANE MASAYOSHI, WATANABE MITSUAKI, NAKANE, MASAYOSHI, WATANABE, MITSUAKI
Applicants: NGK INSULATORS LTD, NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: G01N21
IPC codes: G01B11, G01N21