Abstract: Aluminum nitride particles used as a material of an aluminum nitride sintered compact are disclosed. The aluminum nitride particles may have a same crystal orientation. The aluminum nitride particles each have an aspect ratio of 3 or more, a plate-like shape, a planar length of 0.6 ?m or more and 20 ?m or less, and a thickness length of 0.05 ?m or more and 2 ?m or less.

Abstract: A heat exchanger element includes at least two honeycomb structures arranged serially and each including a cell structural portion having cells separated and formed by partition walls containing SiC and functioning as passages which extend from one end face to the other end face and which a first fluid passes through, and an outer peripheral wall disposed on the outer periphery of the cell structural portion. The first fluid passes through the cells of the honeycomb structures without leaking out of the cells or mixing. The cell structural portions of at least a pair of the honeycomb structures adjacent to each other among the honeycomb structures arranged serially are disposed with a gap, and the first fluid passing through the cells mixes together between end faces forming the gap.

Abstract: A honeycomb filter includes a pillar-shaped honeycomb substrate including a porous partition wall that defines a plurality of cells extending from an inflow end face to an outflow end face, an inflow side plugging portion disposed at the inflow end face of the honeycomb substrate to plug open ends of outflow cells and an outflow side plugging portion disposed at the outflow end face of the honeycomb substrate to plug open ends of inflow cells other than the outflow cells. The honeycomb substrate includes the partition wall that defines two of the inflow cells by division. An average of the plugging length LIN of the inflow side plugging portions disposed in the outflow cells of the honeycomb substrate is larger than an average of the plugging length LOUT of the outflow side plugging portions disposed in the inflow cells of the honeycomb substrate.

Abstract: A gas sensor that is unlikely to have Au evaporation from an external electrode even when used under a high temperature atmosphere is provided. The gas sensor includes a sensor element mainly made of an oxygen-ion conductive solid electrolyte; an external electrode provided on the sensor element and containing a Pt—Au alloy; and an electrode evaporation preventing film provided on the sensor element while being insulated from the sensor element and separated from the external electrode, and made of Au or a Pt—Au alloy having an Au composition ratio not smaller than an Au composition ratio of the Pt—Au alloy contained in the external electrode. A protection cover is provided so that at least part of the sensor element, at which the external electrode and the electrode evaporation preventing film is positioned, is inside the protection cover, and so that a measurement gas is introduced inside the protection cover.

Abstract: A monolithic separation membrane structure comprises a substrate, a first support layer and a separation membrane. The substrate is composed of a porous material and including a plurality of through holes. The first support layer is formed on an inner surface of the plurality of through holes. The separation membrane arranged in the first support layer. The first support layer includes an aggregate material having alumina as a main component, an inorganic binder have titania as a main component, and a sintering additive having at least one of silica and magnesia as a main component.

Abstract: A reducing agent injection device includes a honeycomb structure and a urea spraying device spraying a urea water solution in mist form. In addition, the reducing agent injection device includes a carrier gas inlet that introduces carrier gas f between the urea spraying device and the honeycomb structure. The exhaust gas treatment method of the present invention supplies the urea water solution from the urea spraying device into the cells from the first end face of the honeycomb structure body to generate the ammonia, while introducing the carrier gas f from the carrier gas inlet, and injecting the ammonia to the outside to treat exhaust gas containing NOX.

Abstract: A honeycomb filter including: a honeycomb structure having a porous partition wall provided surrounding a plurality of cells; and a plugging portion disposed to seal either one end portion on the inflow or the outflow end face side of the cells, wherein the cell in which the plugging portion is provided at the outflow end face side and the inflow end face side is open is defined as an inflow cell, the cell the plugging portion is provided at the inflow end face side and the outflow end face side is open is defined as an outflow cell, the honeycomb structure further has a trapping layer for the particulate matter on an inner surface side of the partition wall, the trapping layer includes a portion composed of a sintered body of CeO2 particles on at least a surface layer, and the average particle diameter is 1.1 ?m or less.

Abstract: An interconnector made of a lanthanum chromite is provided on a fuel electrode of an SOFC, and a P-type semiconductor film which is a conductive ceramics film is formed on a surface of the interconnector. When a maximum value (maximum joining width) of the “lengths of a plurality of portions at which the interconnector and the P-type semiconductor film are brought into contact with each other” on a “line (boundary line) corresponding to an interface between the interconnector and the P-type semiconductor film in a cross section including the interconnector and the P-type semiconductor film” is 40 ?m or less, peeling becomes less liable to occur in a portion corresponding to the maximum joining width at the interface.

Abstract: Provided is a porous material which is not easily damaged even when being exposed to a high temperature in a low oxygen atmosphere, and has heat resistance improved. A porous material includes aggregates formed of a nonoxide containing silicon and a binding material formed of an oxide ceramic binding the aggregates to each other while keeping a plurality of pores. The porous material has a phase containing oxygen on a surface of the aggregates including a boundary surface with the binding material. In the porous material, a content ratio of oxygen in the aggregates is preferably from 2 to 25% by mass relative to the mass of the aggregates.

Abstract: Provided is a method for manufacturing a gas sensor which suppresses a defective product caused by a defective posture of a sensor element therein. The method includes a step of obtaining an assembled body constituting the gas sensor, including steps of: causing one end of the sensor element to come to abut to a positioning member for positioning the sensor element; and applying a first force to the annularly-mounted members including a powder compact annularly mounted to the sensor element under a state that the sensor element is positioned and thereby compressing the powder compact so as to fix the sensor element inside of the tubular body, and the compression is performed while constraining the sensor element in a predetermined constraining region in the other end side of the sensor element.

Abstract: The thermoacoustic energy converting element part includes a plurality of through holes extending along a uniform direction to penetrate a body of the thermoacoustic energy converting element part to form traveling paths of acoustic waves. The element part includes a wall surrounding each of the through holes to extend in an extending direction of the through hole and configured to exchange heat between the fluid. The through hole includes a through hole that has a hydraulic diameter of 0.4 mm or smaller, and an open area ratio of the through holes is 60% or higher. A first layer and a second layer are alternately provided on the wall of the thermoacoustic energy converting element part along the extending direction. A porosity of the first layer is 0% or smaller than a porosity of the second layer. The thermal conductivity of the structure of the thermoacoustic energy converting element part along the extending direction is 2 W/m/K or lower.

Abstract: An exhaust heat recovery device including a heat exchange portion, an exhaust branch portion, and an exhaust distribution portion, wherein the heat exchange portion comprises a pillar-shaped honeycomb body having a first end face and a second end face, and a casing accommodating the honeycomb body, the exhaust branch portion has a branch path that branches a path of exhaust gas flowing into the honeycomb body into a central portion and an outer circumferential portion in a cross-section orthogonal to an axial direction of the honeycomb body, and the exhaust distribution portion has an exhaust distribution mechanism that adjusts a heat recovery amount by changing an airflow resistance of the path of the exhaust gas in the central portion of the honeycomb body and varying the exhaust amount passing through the path of the exhaust gas in the outer circumferential portion of the honeycomb body.

Abstract: A separation membrane structure includes a porous support, a first separation membrane and a second separation membrane. The first separation membrane is formed on the porous support and contains high silica zeolite having Si/Al atomic ratio of greater than or equal to 200. The second separation membrane is formed on the first separation membrane and contains cation.

Abstract: A separation membrane structure comprises a porous support, a first separation membrane formed on the porous support, and a second separation membrane formed on the first separation membrane. The first separation membrane has an average pore diameter of greater than or equal to 0.32 nm and less than or equal to 0.44 nm. The second separation membrane includes addition of at least one of a metal cation or a metal complex that tends to adsorb nitrogen in comparison to methane.

Abstract: A silica membrane filter 10 includes a porous substrate 13 and a silica membrane 18 formed on the porous substrate 13, the silica membrane 18 having an aryl group. The silica membrane 18 has an atomic ratio Si/C, as determined by elemental analysis using energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), in the range of 0.2 to 15. The silica membrane 18 preferably has a thickness in the range of 30 nm to 300 nm and an X/Y, a ratio of an absorption intensity X of a Si—O—Si bond to an absorption intensity Y based on the aryl group in a Fourier transform infrared absorption spectrum (FT-IR), in the range of 5.0 to 200.

Abstract: In a particle counter and a method of counting a number of particles, the particle counter includes a casing made of a ceramic, an electric charge adder configured to add electric charges to particles in a measurement target gas supplied into the casing, a first electric charge collector configured to collect the electric charges added to the particles, and a number measuring unit configured to measure a number of the particles based on a quantity of the collected electric charges.

Abstract: A pillar-shaped honeycomb structure body of a honeycomb structure includes a circumferential cell structure, a central cell structure and a boundary wall therebetween. On a surface orthogonal to the cells there are a circumferential reinforcing region having the partition wall thicker than a basic partition wall thickness in the circumferential cell structure and existing outside a range of a distance from a centroid of the surface; and at least one of a first boundary reinforcing region having the partition wall thicker than the basic partition wall thickness and existing in a range of a distance from the centroid within a range of the circumferential cell structure and a second boundary reinforcing region having the partition wall thicker than a basic partition wall thickness in the central cell structure and existing outside of a range of a distance from the centroid within a range of the central cell structure.

Abstract: A ceramic formed body extrusion method for forming a ceramic formed body having a wall-shaped or plate-shaped formed portion by using an extrusion die provided with a slit for extrusion of a ceramic formed body from a raw material for forming, the slit including a slit former stage unit located on an upstream side in an extrusion direction in the extrusion and a slit latter stage unit located on a downstream side in the extrusion direction, the slit latter stage unit having a width of three to 27 times a width of the slit former stage unit, and by extruding a raw material containing a first particle having an aspect ratio of two or more and less than 300 such that the raw material passes though the slit former stage unit of the extrusion die and then passes through the slit latter stage unit.

Abstract: A honeycomb structure including: a pillar-shaped honeycomb structure body, the honeycomb structure body being configured to include a circumferential portion and a central portion, wherein a shape of the cells is a triangle or a hexagon having at least one symmetrical axis, in the shape of the cells, a number of the symmetrical axes is defined as A, a number of vertices of the shape of the cells is defined as N, and a value shown in a following Equation (1) is defined as 0, an arrangement direction of the cells in the circumferential portion is inclined in a range of ??15° to ?+15° with respect to an arrangement direction of the cells in the central portion.

Abstract: A ceramic formed body extrusion method for forming a ceramic formed body having a wall-shaped or plate-shaped formed portion by using an extrusion die provided with a slit for extrusion of a ceramic formed body from a raw material for forming, the slit including a slit former stage unit located on an upstream side in an extrusion direction in the extrusion and a slit latter stage unit located on a downstream side in the extrusion direction, the slit latter stage unit having a width of three to 27 times a width of the slit former stage unit, and by extruding a raw material containing a first particle having an aspect ratio of two or more and less than 300 such that the raw material passes though the slit former stage unit of the extrusion die and then passes through the slit latter stage unit.