Role of Calcium Magnesium Aluminate in Carbon-containing Bricks for Steel Ladle

Calcium magnesium aluminate,with the commercial name of MagArmour,is a synthetic material consisting of 70 mass%Al_(2)O_(3),20 mass%MgO and 10 mass%CaO,approximately.It is characterized by porous microstructure,intergranular aluminates phases and micro-crystalline spinel.Since globally launched in 2017,MagArmour has been successfully applied to various carbon-containing refractories serving for steel refining process.Lots of cases have demonstrated the role of MagArmour in enhancing the service life of carbon containing bricks for ladle lining.The benefits embody in formation of protective coating on hot surface,relief of drilling corrosion in joint positions,and elimination of grooves or cracks caused by mechanical stress concentration.In addition,MagArmour is effective in protecting graphite from deep oxidization so as to be capable of replacing the metallic or carbide anti-oxidants in carbon-containing bricks entirely.By means of chemical analysis and microstructural dissection,postmortem investigations on the used MgO-C bricks from both metal and slag zones of 120t steel refining ladle were conducted to clarify the working mechanism of MagArmour.The formation of protective coating on hot face is attributed to the dissolution of micro-crystalline spinel into contacting slag,which changes the slag chemistry so as to enhance viscosity.The improvement in corrosion/erosion resistance is highly related to the porous microstructure and dispersive aluminates.As well known,evaporation of Mg,Al and SiO,and/or internal migration,occurs in MgO-C bricks at elevated temperatures.The gaseous phases are absorbed by MagArmour particles due to the high surface area of porous microstructure and condense as corresponding oxides.These oxides react with the intergranular calcium aluminates forming liquid phase.With increasing temperature,the liquid phase seeps into the matrix under capillary force.The increased liquid amount improves the flexibility of the matrix and thus releases the internal stresses concentration resulting from mechanical stress and temperature gradient.Meanwhile,densification of the matrix microstructure occurs under the static pressure generated by liquid steel and molten slag,which blocks the channels of oxygen infiltration.

Effect of Ultrafine Spinel Sources on Slag Resistance and Microstructure of Alumina-spinel Castables

In order to clarify the effect of ultrafine spinel sources on slag resistance and microstructure of alumina -spinel castables,using tabular alumina and spinel as coarse aggregates,tabular alumina powders,spinel powders,calcium aluminate cement,spinel containing cement,spinel micro-powder and reactive alumina ultrafines as matrix,alumina-spinel castables used for RH snorkels were prepared by changing the particle size and sources of preformed spinel.The effects of different ultrafine spinel sources (CMA72,spinel micro-powder) on the properties of alumina-spinel castables were investigated.Thermal shock resistance and slag resistance of specimens were compared by the residual strength rate (1 100 ℃,air cooling 1 cycle) and static crucible method.The microstructure and the slag corrosion resistance mechanism of the specimens were analyzed by SEM and EDS.The result shows that slag resistance of alumina-spinel castables can be improved by adding ultrafine preformed spinel,such as CMA72,and spinel micro-powder.The introduction of ultra-fine preformed spinel has little effect on HMOR of alumina-spinel castables,but has negative effect on TSR.ultra-fine and dispersive preformed spinel in the matrix and fine microstructure are the main reasons for the improvement of slag resistance of castables.

Thermal Shock Resistance of Ladle Castables

High purity alumina - spinel （ A - MA ） and alumina- magnesia （A -M） castables are widely used in steel ladles due to their resistance against slag penetration and corrosion. With a calcium magnesium alumihate bond （ CMA ） excellent slag penetration resistance can be achieved which results in high wear resistance due to reduced structural spalling. This paper investigates the impact of matrix eompositions and CMA-binder content of A -MA and A -M castables on thermal shock resistance（TSR）. Standardized thermal shock tests have been applied with sample quenching from 950 ℃ down to room temperature. Results show that all castables are significantly damaged after 5 cycles despite their differences in microstructure. However, the mix with 12% CMA gave TSR that is at similar good level as the reference mix with 6% CAC （70% alumina cement ）. While a similar strength level was achieved before and after the thermal cycling, the Jormulation with 12% CMA contains 0. 6% less total CaO. The A - MA castables perform better on average than the A - M mixes with this test method. Within the group of A - M castables the mix with 18% CMA and 0. 5% SiO2 gave superior TSR, similar good as castables of the A - MA group. The introduction of CMA in an A - M tastable allows reduction of free MgO and SiO2-addition. The reduction of SiO2 has been found beneficial for the TSR. This was also found during a thermal cycling trial at high temperature between 1100 and 1 500 ℃. Here the A -M mix with 18% CMA and 0. 5% SiO2 performed better than the SiO2-free A -MA castable.