Investigation of the dependence of structural and mechanical properties of cement-bonded bauxite refractories on their process conditions

Abstract

Abstract Properties such as density, porosity, shrinkage and compressive strength of bauxite refractories were investigated by selecting different bauxite grain size, water content, molding pressure and firing temperature. The stress – strain data were modeled using parameters such as maximum stress, maximum strain, elasticity and non linearity. Simple mathematical models were used to correlate the examined properties with production conditions and materials’ characteristics, through regression analysis. Thus, it was found that firing at 1 400 °C led to shrinkage, while low porosity and high maximum stress refractories are produced when increasing all production conditions. Maximum strain and the non-linearity parameter increase with temperature, while molding pressure increases only maximum strain. Finally, the elasticity parameter decreases with grain size and molding pressure.