Improving thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical properties of ASC refractories with the addition of zircon/mullite

Refractory materials are important products used in processes that require high temperatures. Different studies are carried out to increase the performance of refractories in the processes in which they are used and to reduce the downtimes caused by refractory materials. In this study, 4 different compositions were created by adding 5%, 10%, 15% zircon mullite to the content of ASC refractory brick compositions used in cement rotary kilns. The formed compositions were first sintered at 1350˚C, 1400˚C, 1450˚C in the laboratory furnace. Porosity, density, water absorption, cold compressive strength, volumetric expansion and outer surface examinations were carried out on the sintered samples. All compositions gave the best strength results in themselves when sintered at 1450˚C. But at 1450˚C, a lot of vomiting occurred on the outer surface of the sintered samples. These vomits are both performance and commercially undesirable. For this reason, tunnel kiln firing was carried out at 1400˚C. Porosity, density, water absorption, cold compressive strength, volumetric expansion, phase analysis, thermal shock and alkali tests were performed on the fired samples from each composition. As a result of the tests, improvements were observed in the compositions with the addition of zircon mullite, and the 3rd Composition with 10% zircon mullite was determined as the optimum composition.