Ngk Spark Plug Company, Limited

Michitaka Yamada

Haruki Yoshida

Kuniharu Tanaka

Yusuke Nomura

Yutaka Yokoyama

Hideto Yamada

Shun Kondo

Toshinori Takeichi

The spark plug includes an insulator made from an alumina-based sintered body, and the insulator contains 90 to 98 wt % of an Al component in oxide equivalent. The insulator contains 1 to 5 wt % of an Si component, 0.1 to 1 wt % of an Mg component, 2 wt % or less of a Ca component, 0.3 to 6 wt % of a Ba component, and 0.11 to 5 wt % of a rare earth component, in oxide equivalent. In analysis using a scanning transmission electron microscope with a probe diameter of an electron beam set at 1 nm, Si and a rare earth element are detected at a crystal grain boundary having a thickness of 15 nm or less, and an alkaline earth metal at the crystal grain boundary is less than a detection limit.

Spark plug

The spark plug includes an insulator formed of an alumina-based sintered body, and the insulator contains Si, Ba, and a rare earth element. In an analysis of the insulator by using a scanning transmission electron microscope having an electron-probe diameter of 1 nm, Si and a rare earth element are detected at a crystal grain boundary having a thickness of 15 nm or less, a content of an alkaline earth metal is less than a detection limit at the crystal grain boundary, and a diffraction spot is present in an electron diffraction pattern of a portion where Ba is detected.

Disclosed is a spark plug including: an insulator having an axial hole formed along an axis of the spark plug; a center electrode disposed in a front end side of the axial hole; and a metal shell fixed around an outer circumference of the insulator, with a front end portion of the insulator protruding frontward from a front end of the metal shell. The front end portion of the insulator consists only of a first section and a second section located adjacent to and frontward of the first section and having an inner diameter larger than that of the first section. The second section has a chamfered area formed on an inner circumferential surface thereof so as to continue to a front end of the insulator.

Growing community of inventors

Tajimi, Japan

Michitaka Yamada