Effects of palygorskite on physical properties and mechanical performances of bone china

Abstract In this work, the palygorskite with different contents upto 6 mass% was added into bone china bodies in order to improve the flexural strength, fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance of bodies. The phase composition and microstructure were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the physical properties and mechanical performance of bone china were also studied. Results showed that the sintering temperature and thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of bone china decreased with the increase of the addition amount of palygorskite. Specifically, adding 2 and 4 mass% palygorskite could improve the three-point flexural strength of bone china from 113 to 125.3 MPa and the fracture toughness from 2.11 to 2.21 MPa·m 1/2 , respectively. However, the flexural strength and fracture toughness of bone china were decreased along with the further increase of palygorskite addition. Moreover, the thermal shock resistance of bone china was improved from 160 °C to 180 °C via adding the palygorskite. The above findings provided a low-cost, simple and eco-friendly technique to improve the flexural strength, fracture toughness and thermal shock resistance of bone china.