Hou Zhi Wang

Preparation of Mullite Powder by Aluminum Sulfate and Silica in Molten Sodium Sulfate

Mullite powder was prepared through reaction of aluminum sulfate and silica in molten sodium sulfate media. The phase composition and microstructure of mullite powder were investigated. The results showed that high purity mullite is prepared by this method. The mullite powder exhibits needle-like whisker crystal with 50~100 nm in diameter and 3~8 #m in length. It is found that by this method mullite starts to form at 900oC, the quartz phase is disappeared about 1000oC, and mullite begin to decompose when the temperature is over 1100oC. Thus, the reasonable synthesizing temperature is about 1000oC. This synthetic method is characterized by process simplicity, the temperature of mullite formation is lower than 200-400oC compared with other conventional methods.

Preparation and Characterization of Al2O3 Coated Graphite Powders

Heterogeneous-nucleation formation of Al2O3 coatings on graphite powders via a controlled hydrolysis process of aluminum chloride was investigated, and surface morphology and properties of the coated graphite were examined. The formed Al2O3 coatings were uniform and essentially amorphous. They were bonded well with graphite via chemical interaction between their O atoms and C atoms on graphite surface. Graphite particle size increased from 7.61 µm (as-received graphite) to 9.53 µm (the coated graphite), revealing that average thickness of the coating was ~1µm. Compared with those of as-received graphite, specific surface area and fractal dimension of the coated graphite also increased, which was caused by the porosity present in the coating. The isolectric point (IEP) of the coated graphite (~9) was close to that of pure Al2O3, indicating that the electro-kinetic behavior of the coated graphite was similar to that of Al2O3.

Finite Element Analysis on Temperature-Stress of Permeable Refractory Ceramic under Working Process in Ladle

According to the practical physical dimension and processing parameters of ladle with bottom gas blowing in a factory, a geometrical model was established and mesh structure was completed, Eulerian multiphase model and porous media model were adopted for the two-phase flow in ladle, which was coupled, the effect of temperature field and thermal stress in course of working process of permeable- gas refractory ceramic was studied by finite element approach. The correlations between processing, structure, and high-temperature mechanical properties were discussed, and the material and structure of permeable-gas ceramic were designed to optimum. The results show that: The steady gas flow rate can avoid wearing of permeable-gas refractory ceramic from cataclysm of temperature-stress; After the material and structure of permeable-gas refractory ceramic are optimized, the effect on ceramic wearing of temperature-stress in condition of oxygen washing is weakened. It is an important guiding for prepara- tion of permeable-gas refractory ceramic with long life, which will make for highly active refining ladle.

Effect of Temperature on the Synthesis of ZrO2-Mullite Powders in Molten Sodium Sulfate

ZrO2-mullite compound powders were synthesized with zircon and aluminum sulfate in molten sodium sulfate. Na2ZrSiO5 was prepared as intermediate with zircon and sodium carbonate at 900°C for 3h. Then the mixture of resultant Na2ZrSiO5 and aluminum sulfate was heated at different temperatures in molten sodium sulfate salt. The ZrO2-Al2O3-SiO2 compound powders were obtained after washing away the solvable salts. The results showed that the compound powders synthesized at 800°C were tetragonal ZrO2, SiO2 and Al2O3; the powders synthesized at 1000°C were monoclinal ZrO2 and mullite. The mullite in compound powders became to decompose when the reaction temperature increased over 1100°C.

Numerical Simulation of Temperature Field and Thermal Shock Resistance Property of Permeable Brick

The temperature distribution of the permeable brick was modeled using CFX software. The influence of magnesia and corundum on thermal shock resistance of non-cement bonded alumina-based permeable brick was investigated. The results indicated that, in the gas blow process, the high temperature regions near the working face of the brick gradually expanded with the increase of the gas flow rate. Therefore the inner part of the brick had the complex and large change of thermal stress. Further experiments demonstrated that thermal shock resistance of alumina-magnesia based castable refractory was better than that of alumina-chrome based castable refractory. With the increase of magnesia amount, the alumina-magnesia based castable refractory had more cycles of heating and water-cooling. When different kinds of corundum were added in the raw materials, the sample with tabular corundum showed the best thermal shock resistance, the one with white fused corundum performed worse and the one with fused dense corundum performed worst.

Analysis on Resistance Coefficients and Optimization of Structure and Properties of Porous Permeable Refractory

The resistance coefficients through which gas flow permeable refractory are important properties and have great effect on the gas blowing parameters and gas-liquid two phase flowing characteristics in the metallurgy furnace such as ladles, tundish. In this paper, the resistance coefficients were measured according to the Forchheimer’s law. The results show when the gas flow rate is fixed, the viscosity resistance coefficient and inertia resistance coefficient decrease as the apparent porosity and average pore diameter increase. The viscous resistance coefficient is more lager than the inertial resistance coefficient. The resistance coefficients were analyzed by dimensional analysis and the statistical correlations between the resistance coefficients and parameters of porous permeable refractory were got based on the experimental data. In order to get high strength at low resistance coefficients, the raw materials particle degree were adjusted.

Fabrication and Characterization of Mullite Whisker-Reinforced Porous Refractory

The Al2O3-mullite system porous refractories were fabricated, and then pretreated by sol-gel. The samples were sintered at 1200°C for 3 hours. The microstructures and phases of the samples were analyzed by SEM and XRD respectively. The physical properties of the samples were measured according to National Standard of Refractory. Mullite-whiskers were formed in the pores of the samples. The pretreated samples were more permeable, and were greatly strengthened.

Effect of the Formation of SiC Whisker on the Properties of Al2O3-ZrO2-C Materials

SiC whisker was produced through the reaction between carbon and silicon powders during the sintering of Al2O3-ZrO2-C materials. The thermodynamic conditions and growth mechanism were discussed. The results showed that rod-shaped and dumbbell-shaped SiC whiskers are formed, respectively. The main composition of the beads in dumbbell-shaped whisker is SiOX with a small amount of Na and Ca, but the rods are SiC. In addition, the dumbbell-shaped SiC whisker contributed less than straight rod-shaped SiC whisker to improving the physical properties of Al2O3-ZrO2-C materials.

Effect of CaO Content and Microstructure on Hydration Resistance of MgO-CaO Clinkers

Hydration resistance of three commercially available high-purity MgO-CaO clinkers were investigated and compared in the present paper. The results show that, as well as CaO content, microstructural morphology of MgO–CaO clinker affects its hydration resistance. The microstructure in which CaO is present at the grain boundaries of MgO leads to poorer hydration resistance, whereas the one in which CaO and MgO are distributed alternately confers much improved hydration resistance on the clinker, especially when MgO level is high enough to cover most of the CaO crystals.