Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362

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Ceramics International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ceramint

Microstructure evolution during the heating process and its effect on

the elastic properties of CAC-bonded alumina castables
Yulong Wang, Xiangcheng Li n, Boquan Zhu n, Pingan Chen
The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, PR China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, the alumina-based refractory castables were prepared using calcium aluminate cement
Received 3 March 2016 (CAC) as binder. The phase composition and microstructural evolution of the castable samples during the
Received in revised form heating process were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dif-
31 March 2016
ferential thermal analysis (DTA), and thermal expansion analysis. The relationship between the micro-
Accepted 13 April 2016
Available online 14 April 2016
structural characteristics of castables and the properties of elastic modulus was investigated. The results
showed that, after the castables were cured at room temperature for 24 h and dried at 110 °C for 24 h, the
Keywords: main phases present after hydration were Al2O3, C3AH6, and AH3. C3AH6 and AH3 would be transformed
Calcium aluminate cement into C12A7 and AlO(OH) or Al2O3, as temperature increased from 110 °C to 800 °C, the microcrack caused
Refractory castables
by decomposition of the hydrates will led to the lower values of both the elastic modulus and strength of
Microstructure evolution
the castable samples. From 900 °C to 1000 °C, CA was recrystallized through the reaction between C12A7
Elastic modulus
and A, resulting in an increase in elastic modulus and strength. Between 1100 °C and 1200 °C, CA2 would
be formed, which resulted in a volume expansion of the material and a slight increase in elastic modulus.
Finally, the CA6 phase was formed as the temperature increased to 1400 °C. The enhancement of the
strength and elastic modulus of the castable samples could be attributed to their strong interlocking
bonds between platelet CA6 and matrix particles at high temperature.
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the development of toughening mechanisms such as crack de-

With the high strength and excellent thermal shock resistance
at elevated temperature, alumina-based refractory castables are
widely used in the steel-making process. Calcium aluminate ce-
ment (CAC), as one of the most widely used refractory hydraulic
binders, is of great importance to the properties of these castables
[1–3]. The main mineral phases of commercial CAC are CA
(CaO
Al2O3, 40–70 wt%), CA2 (CaO
2Al2O3, o25 wt%), and C12A7
(12CaO
7Al2O3, o3 wt%). The hydration process of these mineral
phases starts when water comes into contact with their particle
surface, resulting in the generation of various hydration phases
such as C3AH6 (Ca3Al2O6
6H2O), AH3 (Al2O3
3H2O), and some
metastable compounds of CAH10 (CaAl2O4
10H2O) and C2AH8
(Ca2Al2O5
8H2O) [4–7]. During the heating process, these hydra-
tion products will dehydrate gradually and react with Al2O3 to
form CA2 at 1200 °C and CA6 above 1400 °C [8,9]. The formation of
CA6 will significantly improve the thermal shock and creep re-
sistance and the mechanical strength at high temperature due to
n
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: lixiangcheng@wust.edu.cn (X. Li),
zhuboquan@wust.edu.cn (B. Zhu).
flection and bridging [10]. Furthermore, its relative lower solubi-
lity in high iron-containing slag should benefit the improvement
on corrosion resistance for the castables [11–14].
The elastic modulus of a multiphase material is strongly de-
pendent on the crystalline structure and microstructure such as
pores and cracks [15]. For the CAC-bonded alumina-based ca-
stables, their elastic moduli at different temperature ranges are
mainly determined by the reactions between Al2O3 and CaO [16–
23]. During the heating process, the dehydration reactions will
bring about the porosity formation, which will decrease their
elastic moduli; however, the formation of CA2 and CA6 at higher
temperature could inversely increase their elastic properties. The
microstructural evolution that resulted from the heating treat-
ment will play a key role in the physical properties of the CAC-
bonded alumina-based castables. Currently, there has been in-
creasing interest in using dynamic and nondestructive methods,
such as ultrasonic echography techniques, to evaluate the elastic
modulus of refractory castables. Based on these techniques, the
same sample can be used to evaluate the elastic modulus with the
temperature, which provides insights of in situ chemical and
structural evolutions [21–23].
The refractory castables can be considered composites with
bonding phases as the matrix and aggregates as reinforcement

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.04.058
0272-8842/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.
11356 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362

particles. The reactions between constituents in the matrix and Table 2

microstructural evolutions will significantly influence the elastic
modulus and strength of castables. Therefore, it is fundamental to
understand these mechanisms to predict the high temperature
behavior of the industrial refractory concrete. Although the re-
lationship between the elastic properties and temperature has
been investigated, the detailed microstructural evolution accom-
panied by the reactions of CAC hydration during the heating
process and its effect on the comprehensive physical properties
has not been fully understood. In this paper, the phase composi-
tion and microstructural evolution of CAC-bonded alumina-based
castables, as well as their corresponding physical properties of
strength and elastic modulus during the heating process, have
been studied.
2. Experimental method
2.1. Sample preparation
The typical characteristics of the raw materials used for this
work are summarized in Table 1. Coarse tabular alumina
(Dmax r1 mm; Zhejiang Zili Co., Ltd., China) was added as ag-
gregates and the matrix fraction comprised fine tabular alumina
(r74 μm; Zhejiang Zili Co., Ltd., China), reactive alumina
(D50 ¼ 4.1 μm; Zhejiang Zili Co., Ltd., China), and CAC (secar71;
D50 ¼13.6 μm; Kerneos, France). FS10 (BASF, Germany) was se-
lected as a dispersant.
The high alumina refractory castable samples were prepared
with tabular alumina as aggregates and α-Al2O3 and cement as the
matrix constituents (as shown in Table 2), and all castable samples
were prepared with a fixed water content of 6.8 wt% based on dry
solids. To highlight the effect of CAC, a relative small particle size
(Dmax r1 mm) and 10 wt% CAC was adapted in the castable sam-
ple composition. It is important to point out that the castable
samples were prepared by removing the coarse tabular alumina
particles from traditional refractory castable composition.
The raw materials were mixed in a castable mixer for 3 min and
then added with water and the dispersant followed by wet mixing
for another 3 min. The mixed material was placed into a
140 mm  25 mm  25 mm cuboid mould and casted by vibrating
after curing at 30 °C for 24 h within mould. All castable samples
were demoulded and dried at 110 °C for another 24 h.
Composition of the refractory castables evaluated in the present study.
Raw materials Tyler mesh # range Content (wt%)
Tabular alumina r18 83
r200 9
r300 16
Reactive alumina r1000 12
Srcar71 r300 10
FS10 0.15
Water – 6.8%
Specimens for microstructural evaluation were treated by gold
spraying to assure the conductivity. Then, microstructural char-
acterization of Specimens was carried out using field-emission
scanning electron microscopy (FESEM; Nova 400 Nano SEM, FEI)
and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS; INCA, IE350 penta FET
X-3, Oxford), and the Backscattered Electrons (BE) was used in
these analyses.
Thermal characterizations were carried out using differential
thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
measurements (STA449c/3/G, NETZSCH, Germany) with a heating
rate of 10 °C/min up to 1500 °C under air flow.
Thermal expansion measurements were performed in samples
of Φ10  50 mm using a high temperature dilatometer (RPZ15-1,
Precondar, China) at 10 °C/min from room temperature to 1500 °C.
The hot elastic modulus of the castable sample was evaluated
according to the resonance bar technique (RFDA-HTVP 1600, IMCE,
Belgium). The tests were conducted in the temperature range from
30 °C to 1500 °C under air atmosphere, with a fixed rate of 3 °C/
min during both the heating and cooling cycles.
The cold modulus of rupture (CMOR) was determined by three
point bending using a universal testing machine (DKZ-5000, Pre-
condar, China). The cold compressive strength (CCS) of mortar
specimens was tested according to ISO 679:1989, using compres-
sion tester (CDT 1205-2, MTS system, China). The bulk density and
apparent porosity of specimens were determined by the Archi-
medes method in water.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Phase composition of specimens

2.2. Characterization techniques The pure cement pastes were prepared to highlight the dehy-
dration of the cementitious phases between 110 °C and 900 °C
The phase compositions of the castable specimens were eval-
uated using X-ray diffraction (XRD; X'Pert Pro, Philips), with cop-
per anode (Cu Kα1 λ ¼0.15405 nm) working at 40 kV and 40 mA.
Scans were performed in continuous mode at a 2° min  1 scan rate.
The experimental diffraction patterns were compared to the files
of the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD).

Table 1
Chemical compositions and physical characteristics of raw materials.

Chemical analysis (wt%) Physical properties

CaO Al2O3 Na2O SiO2 Fe2O3 Specific sur- Bulk

face area density
(m2/g)

Tabular 0.03 99.02 0.17 0.10 0.05 – 3.89

alumina
Reactive 0.01 99.30 0.27 0.14 0.01 2.908 3.92
alumina
Cement 28.71 68.04 0.19 1.20 0.05 1.001 2.92
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of pure CAC pastes after heat treatment at 110 °C to 350 °C.
 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362 11357

Fig. 3. DTG and DSC analysis of the castable specimens.

Fig. 2. XRD patterns of CAC–Al2O3 suspension after heat treatment at 1000 °C to
1500 °C.

C12A7 + 5A → 12CA Δr Hm(1200K) = − 176.5 kJ mol−1 (4)

(Fig. 1). After curing at room temperature for 24 h and drying at
110 °C for 24 h, the crystallinity of the hydrating products was
mainly AH3 (PDF: 00-001-0259) and C3AH6 (PDF: 01-079-1286).
AlO(OH) (PDF: 01-088-2111) was detected after firing at 250 °C.
After firing at 300 °C, only AlO(OH) and C12A7 (PDF: 01-070-2144)
can be detected, indicating that all AH3 and C3AH6 were com-
pletely decomposed into AlO(OH) and C12A7. During the thermal
treatment at 650 °C to 900 °C, C12A7 is the main component, and
the intensity of C12A7 diffraction peaks increased with the increase
in the heat treatment temperature. At this stage, AlO(OH) was
decomposed into amorphous Al2O3 and H2O.
The CAC-Al2O3 suspension (mass ratio¼2:3) was prepared with
a water/cement ratio of 0.5 to evaluate the phase composition
after heat treatment from 1000 °C to 1500 °C (Fig. 2). After thermal
treatment at 1000 °C, C12A7 was consumed to form CA (PDF: 01-
070-0134). Up to 1100 °C, the intensive diffraction peaks of CA2
(PDF: 01-072-0767) can be detected. As the temperature increases
to 1200 °C and 1300 °C, the existing phases are CA2 and Al2O3.
When the temperature increases to 1400 °C, the CA6 (PDF: 01-076-
0665) could be identified, and the intensity of Al2O3 diffraction
peaks is decreased. Up to 1500 °C, the remained phases are CA2
and CA6 in the samples.
3.2. Derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) and DSC analysis of the
castable specimens
CA + A → CA2 Δr Hm(1500K) = − 3. 7 kJ mol−1 (5)
CA2 + 4A → CA 6 Δr Hm(1750K) = 0. 5 kJ mol−1 (6)
The formation of both CA and CA2 is an exothermic reaction,
which has been confirmed by the DSC curve above 1000 °C;
however, the formation of CA6 is an endothermic reaction, re-
sulting in a weak endothermic peak at approximately 1393 °C on
the DSC curve.
3.3. Phase evolutions of castable matrix versus temperature
Based on the XRD results and DTA/DSC curves, the quantitative
phase analysis was carried out based on the Rietveld method;
thus, the sketch of phase evolution during heat treatment can be
proposed (Fig. 4). At the drying temperature of 110 °C, the main
hydrations are AH3 and C3AH6, which will be dehydrated to AlO
(OH) and C12A7 in the temperature range from 230 °C to 300 °C.
When the temperature increases to 650 °C, AlO(OH) disappears,
and the CA and CA2 reach the maximum at 1000 °C and 1300 °C,
respectively. Finally, the CA6 will be formed above 1400 °C.

Fig. 3 shows the thermal behavior of the castable specimen

after curing at room temperature for 24 h and drying at 110 °C for
24 h. The sample presented slight endothermic peak at approxi-
mately 110 °C, which should be related to the release of free water.
The two main endothermic peaks at approximately 261 °C and
678 °C are associated with the dehydration of the cementitious
phases: the first endothermic peak seems to be associated with
the dehydration of AH3 and C3AH6, and the second mass loss peak
resulted from the dehydration of AlO(OH) by the following equa-
tion:
Al2O3 ·(H2 O)3 → 2AlO(OH) + 2H2 O (1)

7Ca3Al2O6 ⋅6H2 O → 12CaO⋅7Al2O3 + 9CaO + 42H2 O (2)

2AlO(OH) → Al2O3 + H2 O (3)

As related in the literature, calcium aluminates can be formed

above 900 °C, and the thermodynamic data were listed out: Fig. 4. Sketch of phase evolution of castable matrix versus temperature.
11358 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362

Fig. 6. Microstructure of castables fired at 110–200 °C.

Fig. 5. (a) Evolution of the Young's modulus and (b) thermal expansion versus
temperature.

3.4. Evolution of the Young's modulus and thermal expansion versus

temperature

Fig. 5 shows the evolution of the Young's modulus and thermal

expansion of the castable specimens under different temperatures.
As the temperature changes, the evolution of the Young's modulus
can be distinguished by the following seven domains: I: Mild de-
hydration stage, II: Rapid dehydration stage, III: Relative stable
stage, IV: Formation of CA, V: Formation of CA2, VI: Sintering stage,
and VII: Formation of CA6.

3.4.1. Mild dehydration stage (from room temperature to 220 °C)

From room temperature to 220 °C, only regular thermal ex-
pansion and a slight decrease of the Young's modulus are served,
which seem to be associated with the dehydration of AHx (gel
phase). The evolution process of cement hydrates can be described
as follows: when cement is mixed with water, the Ca2 þ and
Al(OH)−4 ions will be precipitated in solution, as the concentration
of these ions reaches to their saturation level, the metastable hy-
drates of CAH10 and C2AH8 will be formed, and these metastable
hydrates will evolve to form stable hydrates C3AH6 and AH3
(Fig. 6). Theoretically, all these metastable phases will be fully
Fig. 7. Microstructure of castables fired at 300 °C.
converted into the stable hydrates of C3AH6 and AH3; however, the
phases of platelet-like hydration (C2AH8) and gel phase are formed
at this stage (see Fig. 6). at room temperature), and a shrinkage is also observed (Fig. 5).
This rapid decay of the Young's modulus should be attributed to
3.4.2. Rapid dehydration stage (from 220 °C to 340 °C) the decomposition of the hydrates. Also, at this stage, as the cu-
In this stage, the Young's modulus results in a strong decay bical C3AH6 is transformed into an anomalistic granule (Fig. 7), it
(approximately 50% reduction compared with its value measured will result in microcrack formation and damage the continuous
 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362 11359

Fig. 8. Microstructure of castables fired at 500–900 °C.

bonding structure; thus, the Young's modulus is reduced rapidly.
3.4.3. Relative stable stage (from 340 °C to 1030 °C)
In this stage, a linear thermal expansion and a slight decrease
of the Young's modulus are observed. As mentioned above, AlO
(OH) could be transformed into Al2O3 at 600 °C; at the tempera-
ture range from 900 °C to 1000 °C, CA (Δv/v ¼  1.14%) will be
recrystallized through the reaction between C12A7 and Al2O3
(Fig. 8). The thermal expansion experiment results indicate that
both the decomposition of AlO(OH) and the formation of CA in-
volve a slight shrinkage, and the reduction of the Young's modulus
of the castable samples should be related to the microstructure
evolution caused by those reactions mentioned above.
3.4.4. Formation of CA (from 1030 °C to 1120 °C)
In this stage, the formation of large quantities of CA will result
in the generation of network structure, as shown in Fig. 9. Thus,
the Young's modulus of the castable exhibits a significant increase.
However, the change of thermal expansion of the castable sample
is very limited.

Fig. 9. Microstructure of castables fired at 1000 °C.

11360 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362

Fig. 10. Microstructure of castables fired at 1200–1300 °C.

3.4.5. Formation of CA2 (from 1120 °C to 1340 °C)
Between 1120 °C and 1340 °C, the dilatometry curve exhibits an
expansion that should be attributed to the formation of CA2 (Δv/
v ¼ þ13.6%). The formation of CA2 (Fig. 10) will result in a large
volume expansion, which will increase the porosity and introduce
the cracks within structure. Thus, the growth rate of the Young’s
modulus will be slowed.
3.4.6. Sintering stage (from 1340 °C to 1430 °C)
In this stage, as the heat treatment temperature increases, the
formation of CA2 is almost complete and the sintering plays a
leading role. The effect of densification through this sintering
process results in a shrinkage of castables, which significantly
accelerates the growth rate of the Young's modulus.
3.4.7. Formation of CA6 (above 1430 °C)
As the heat treatment temperature increases above 1400 °C,
the hexagonal plate-like CA6 is formed by the reaction between
CA2 and Al2O3 (Fig. 11). Although the higher heat treatment tem-
perature is favorable for the sintering process, the formation of
CA6 (Δv/v ¼ þ3.01%) will result in a large volume expansion,
which leads to a higher porosity of castable sample. Thus, the

Fig. 11. Microstructure of castables fired at 1400–1500 °C.

 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362 11361

growth rate of the Young's modulus will be slowed.

4. Mechanical characteristics

To understand the effects of microstructure evolution on the

overall expansion and mechanical strength of the castables, the
permanent linear change (PLC, Fig. 12), the cold crash strength
(CCS, Fig. 13(a)), and the modulus of rupture at room temperature
(CMOR, Fig. 13(a)) were measured after firing at different tem-
peratures from 110 °C to 1500 °C. At approximately 400 °C and
900 °C, the castable samples present a slight shrinkage due to the
decomposition of hydrates and the formation of CA; accordingly,
the values of both CCS and CMOR exhibit a slight reduction, which
should be attributed to the increase of the apparent porosity of
castable samples. However, in the temperature range from 110 °C
to 1100 °C, the shrinkage rate and the changes of mechanical
strength of castable samples are all very limited. However, as the
heat treatment temperature increased to 1200 °C, the PLC of the
castable sample increased rapidly, shown in Fig. 12. Consequently,
the values of both CCS and CMOR decreased significantly (see
Fig. 13(a)). These significant changes on the PLC and mechanical
strength of the castable sample at 1200 °C should be related to CA2
formation. As already mentioned above, the formation of CA2 will
result in large volume expansion, which will increase the porosity
(see Fig. 13(b)) and introduce the cracks within the structure. Thus,
the mechanical strength of the castable sample will be reduced
rapidly. However, as the heat treatment temperature increases
further (from 1300 °C to 1400 °C), the effect of the sintering pro-
cess results in strong shrinkage, and the PLC of the castable sample
is reduced rapidly. Therefore, their mechanical strengths are im-
proved remarkably. At a temperature above 1400 °C, due to the
formation of CA6, the matrix structure of the castable sample will
be reinforced by those plate-like CA6 particles. Thus, the me-
chanical strengths and elastic modulus of the castable sample will Fig. 13. (a) Mechanical strength and (b) apparent porosity of castables fired at
be further improved, although the apparent porosity of the ca- different temperatures.

stable sample will be increased with CA6 formation.

After the castables were cured at room temperature for 24 h and

5. Conclusion
Both the elastic modulus and the mechanical strengths of CAC-
bonded Al2O3-based castable are significantly influenced by the
phase evolution and corresponding microstructural character-
istics, which are determined by the heat treatment temperature.
dried at 110 °C for 24 h, the main phases present after hydration
were Al2O3, C3AH6, and AH3. C3AH6 and AH3 were transformed
into C12A7 and AlO(OH) or Al2O3 as temperature increased from
110 °C to 800 °C, the microcrack caused by decomposition of the
hydrates will led to the low values of both elastic modulus and
strength for castables. From 900 °C to 1000 °C, CA was re-
crystallized by the reaction between C12A7 and Al2O3, resulting in
an increase in the elastic modulus and mechanical strength. Be-
tween 1100 °C and 1200 °C, CA2 was formed, which resulted in a
volume expansion of the material, with a slight increase in elastic
modulus. From 1300 °C to 1400 °C, due to the effect of densifica-
tion by the sintering process, both the Young's modulus and me-
chanical strength increased significantly. As the temperature in-
creased above 1400 °C, due to the formation of CA6, the crosslink
structure between platelet CA6 and matrix particles would be
created, thus, the mechanical strengths and elastic modulus of the
castable sample would be further improved.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of

China (Grant no. 51374162) and the Natural Science Foundation of
Hubei Province (2014CFA091) for their financial support for this
Fig. 12. PLC of castables fired at different temperatures. work.
11362 Y. Wang et al. / Ceramics International 42 (2016) 11355–11362
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