Method of measuring cleavage index of kaolin particles and method of manufacturing cordierite honeycomb structure

Abstract

There are newly provided an index which quantitatively indicates shapes of kaolin particles, and a method of measuring the index. There is also provided a method of manufacturing a low-thermal-expansion honeycomb structure suitable for an application such as a car exhaust gas purifying catalyst carrier by use of the kaolin particles whose index is not less than a predetermined value. A certain amount of kaolin particles 1 are pressed and filled into a container 2, peak intensities of the kaolin particles 1 in (200), (020), and (002) faces are measured by X-ray diffraction, respectively, and a cleavage index of the kaolin particles 1 is calculated from the resultant measured values by the following equation (1): Cleavage index=(002)/[(200)+(020)+(002)]  (1), wherein (200), (020), and (002) denote values of the peak intensities of the kaolin particles measured in the (200), (020), and (002) faces by the X-ray diffraction, respectively.

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