GRK 2802: HIGH-TEMPERATURE COMPRESSION TESTS AND ACCOMPANYING SEM INVESTIGATIONS OF MgO-C REFRACTORIES BASED ON FRESH MgO AND RECYCLATE

Abstract

With regard to the increasingly desired recycling of refractories, the properties of MgO-C containing recyclate are of high economic and ecological relevance. Two commercially available grades were studied to evaluate the influence of recyclate in MgO-C materials: MgO-C consisting only of fresh MgO as well as MgO-C with 50 wt.% recyclate. In this study, compression tests on these MgO-C materials were performed at room temperature, 1000°C and 1300°C. In order to investigate the microstructure and to identify the occurring damage mechanisms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations were carried out. The compression tests provided higher strengths at room temperature and at 1000°C for the MgO-C grade with recyclate compared to the grade with only fresh MgO and comparable strengths at 1300°C. Thus, the use of recycled agglomerates had no negative effect on the compressive strength.