METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING A CELL DENSITY OF A HONEYCOMB BODY, IN PARTICULAR FOR AN EXHAUST GAS CATALYTIC CONVERTER

A method and an apparatus are provided for automatically determining an area-related cell density of a cell structure of a honeycomb body having a plurality of passages that are open-ended at an end of the honeycomb body at which the cell structure is visible. An image which has a known or ascertainable image scale of at least a portion of the cell structure is recorded with an optical instrument and the image is processed. In the image processing operation the number of cells is established by counting cells and the cell density is calculated by relating the number of cells to a reference area established through the use of the image scale. The cell density can be rapidly and accurately determined in such a way particularly when using computer-aided image processing. Therefore, production errors can be quickly detected and costs can be saved in that manner.