The increase of new and ever more stringent emission legislation has brought about with it a surge in the demand for more sustainable automotive solutions. This has particularly been the case for automobiles, including heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, with internal combustion engines, which now require the design and manufacturing of more durable and reliable components. An important component of internal combustion engine automobiles, which helps achieve this target, is the exhaust after-treatment system. Exhaust after-treatment systems are usually equipped with some type of catalytic converter, treating the combustion gases from the engine exhaust manifold to reduce the concentration of pollutants. The catalytic converter assembly usually consists of an assembly of an outer metallic canning, an inner substrate and a packaging mat in between the two. The packaging mat, commonly known as the support mat, is an important component in the assembly, protecting the ceramic substrate from road induced and thermal loads, thereby preventing any damage to the latter. This thesis involves further development of a finite element model for the support mat that could be used in catalytic converter simulations with a reasonable degree of accuracy and reliability. In line with this objective, the characteristic mechanical response of the mat is first studied through a series of material tests: namely compression, friction, and shear tests. Different non-linear material models like hyperfoam, hyperelastic and viscoelastic models, are then created in ABAQUS to simulate the mat behaviour in the tests. The material model correlating most closely with the test is then implemented in the simulation of the assembly process, canning of a catalytic converter. This report includes the material tests conducted on the mats in new and aged condition, findings of the characteristic response of the mats in these tests as well as the constitutive material modelling and finite element simulations carried out for correlation with test data from the new mats. The most appropriate material model was also implemented in a canning assembly simulation to evaluate the efficacy of the material model in predicting the mat pressure, gap bulk density, and push-in force.