Preparation and mechanism of nano mullite powders from kaolin via open hydrothermal process

Nano mullite powders have been synthesized from calcined kaolin via open hydrothermal process. The powder product was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. The results indicated that single phase puncheon-shaped nano mullite with about 140-360 nm in length and 50-80 nm in diameter is produced when synthesized in 4 mol/L NaOH solution at 100 degrees C for 4 h. The grain size of mullite decrease slightly with increasing reaction time from 0 h to 4 h. In addition, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis confirms presence of Al3+ during the whole reaction process, which indicates that there is an absence of growth units of mullite in the open hydrothermal system and the mullite precursor mainly underwent a solution process during open hydrothermal treatment.