Abstract
The thermal-deterioration characteristics of the three-way catalysts for gasoline engines were investigated. According to the chemical analysis of Palladium contained catalysts which verified the aging duration and the maximum temperature, a good correlation between the mean diameter of Palladium particles in the aged catalysts and the exhaust gas purification performance was obtained. And also it was found that the degree of Palladium sintering can be determined by the thermal load. Furthermore, the authors proposed that the suppression of Palladium sintering for high-density Palladium loaded catalysts should be a critical issue.
