High Durability of Metal Support for Automotive Catalyst

A metal support for use in an automotive catalyst is exposed to the severe heat cycle brought about by the intermittent flow of a high temperature exhaust gas. Accordingly, the metal support must have high beat resistance(ex. oxidation resistance) and a rigid structure. Therefore, 20% chromium-5% aluminum ferritic stainless steel(containing small quantities of rare earth metals and titanium) is used as a highly beat resistant honeycomb foil in addition to a highly mechanical durable brazing honeycomb structure.

This study examined the durability of a metal honeycomb installed in a gasoline engine. Both an engine bench durability test of a manifold converter type metal support which is connected directly to the exhaust manifold of the gasoline engine and a vehicle durability test of an under the floor type metal support were carried out to evaluate oxidation damage of the metal honeycomb as well as its mechanical durability. As a result, oxidation damage of the honeycomb foil found in the vehicle durability test was extremely small compared with that found in the engine bench test. This data suggests that the metal support has extremely high durability from an oxidation resistance point of view. Thus, 20Cr-5Al ferritic stainless steel is resistant enough for the honeycomb foil of the metal support.