Hydroxy aluminum polycation was firstly prepared with AlCl3瘙
簚6H2O and NaOH as raw materials, and then Al-pillared montmorillonite was prepared with hydroxy aluminum polycation as alumina source. A montmorillonite-based ceramic was fabricated via ball milling and hot pressing with Al2O3 and Al(OH)3 as alumina sources. The effect of hot-pressing temperature on the mullitization and mechanical properties of montmorillonite-based ceramic was investigated. The results show that the mechanical properties of montmorillonite-based ceramics are improved by adding three kinds of alumina sources at the hot-pressing temperature of 1 100 ℃. The optimum flexural strength and fracture toughness of Al-pillared montmorillonite-based ceramics at 1 300 ℃ (i.e., 118.07 MPa and 2.30 MPa·m1/2) can be obtained, which are increased by 41.0% and 74.2%, compared with original montmorillonite ceramics.