Patent ID: 7442663

Claim:
A ceramic-forming green clay obtained by kneading a mixture comprising: a ceramic-forming material selected from the group consisting of silicon carbide, aluminum titanate, and cordierite; and a layered double hydroxide shown by formula (I): [M 2+ 1-x M 3+ x (OH) 2 ][A n− x/n ·y H 2 O] (I) wherein M 2+ , M 3+ , and A n− denote a bivalent cation, tervalent cation, and an anion, respectively, n denotes anion valence (1≦n≦3), x denotes a composition ratio of tervalent cation (M 3+ ) with respect to the sum of bivalent cation (M 2+ ) and tervalent cation (M 3+ ) and a value in a range of 0.1≦x≦0.4 and y denotes a molar number of water in the layered double hydroxide; wherein a ratio of a mass of the layered double hydroxide with respect to a total mass of the ceramic-forming material and the layered double hydroxide is 0.5 to 10%; and wherein the clay has a hardness, measured by an NGK clay hardness meter, in a range of 4 to 18 mm.