In small sizes under 6 od the ceramic is usually more cost effective per piece over the metallic but due to difficulty in packaging ceramic and extra processes required the metallic total system cost often is more advantageous.
Ceramic vs metal catalytic converter.
Sometimes this foil catalyst is dipped in a bath which is based on a liquid ceramic making it look like a ceramic catalyst.
The ceramic core will not melt as ceramic will not melt until a temperature of around 3000 c is reached ceramic is harder to melt than glass.
Ceramic catalysts are always padded by a layer of heat resistant padding between the shell and the honeycomb.
However metal s thermal characteristics may require the addition of insulation to compensate for rapid cooling during the ten minute shut down and hot restart portion of the 23 cycle us ftp test.
Conclusions based on earlier work as well as on extensive metal ceramic comparison tests described herein it has been concluded that standard pf metal foil monoliths are unlikely to compete successfully with ceramic monoliths for the underfloor catalytic converter market because their costs are too high.
Higher cost shorter life if you run rich less flow.
A chemical reaction takes place to make the pollutants less harmful.
The ceramic catalytic converters such as part mf99659hm are not as strong and usually do not last as long as metallic substrate converters.
The major drawbcks with cermaic cores are.
Metal catalysts use a thin metal foil which creates the honeycomb.
The metallic ones are usually used on obd1 applications.
Imho i would get a ceramic for a dd metal for track.
There are many passages for the exhaust gases to flow to allow for the maximum amount of surface area for the hot gases to pass.
However ceramic units did show some improvement with the insulated downpipes apparently because average converter temperatures were moderately increased throughout much of the ftp test.
In sizes larger than 6 od metallic substrates are competitive with ceramic and sizes larger than 10 metallic s have a lower cost.
The inside of the catalytic converter is a honeycomb set of passageways or small ceramic beads coated with catalysts.
The representative informed me that the metallic catalytic converters like part mf59956 are a bit stronger and would be good for applications where the catalytic converter is close to the header as they can handle more heat.