Effect of Al4SiC4 on the Al2O3SiCSiO2C refractory castables performance

Carbon-containing refractories are widely used in the steelmaking process due to their outstanding properties and, in order to improve their oxidation resistance, the so-called antioxidants have often been used. Al4SiC4 is pointed out as a novel additive that presents suitable properties such as Al, but without its drawbacks. Therefore, the effect of Al4SiC4 addition to Al2O3SiCSiO2C castables designed for lining blast furnace troughs was investigated in this work. Apparent porosity, oxidation, thermogravimetric, X-ray diffraction, hot elastic modulus tests and thermodynamic calculations were carried out in order to better understand the antioxidant effects and reaction mechanisms. Additionally, the collected results were compared with those from the compositions containing other commonly used antioxidants (Si, B4C and sodium borosilicate glass). The performance of the novel additive proved to be limited as most of the carbon source used reacted earlier than the Al4SiC4 action. As a consequence, intense carbon oxidation, along with the thermal expansion mismatch among the phases during the cooling step, intensified the deterioration of the evaluated refractory material.