Extrusion die assembly for forming honeycomb structures

Claim 1

In an extrusion die assembly for forming honeycomb structures comprising a die including a discharge surface provided with grid-shaped slits for discharging honeycomb structures composed of interconnecting thin partitions and an inlet surface provided with a plurality of independent feed inlets communicating with the grid-shaped slits and a mask having an orifice of a given diameter, by which an outer shape and a dimension of the honeycomb structure are determined, said mask being adjacent to the grid shaped slits in a discharge direction and surrounding a periphery of the discharge surface, the improvement comprising providing at least one ring having an orifice of a given diameter surrounding a periphery of the inlet surface, said orifice of the ring restraining the supply of a batch material to the feed inlets at the periphery of the inlet surface and the ring and the mask being aligned with each other in the discharge direction, wherein said ring contacts the inlet surface and closes the feed inlets at the periphery of the inlet surface, and wherein the strength of the periphery portion of the honeycomb structure varies according to the diameter difference of the orifices of the mask and the ring.