Received: 12 March 2022 Revised: 3 June 2022 Accepted: 12 June 2022

DOI: 10.1111/ijac.14127

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Study on preformed and in situ spinel containing alumina

castable for steel ladle: Effect of fume silica content

Satyam Kumar Ritwik Sarkar

Department of Ceramic Engineering,

National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela, Odisha, India
Correspondence
Satyam Kumar, Department of Ceramic
Engineering, National Institute of
Technology, Rourkela, Odisha-769008,
India.
Email: satyamk19@gmail.com
Abstract
In the present study, the effect of fume silica content on preformed and in situ
spinel containing alumina spinel castable was studied by varying fume silica con-
tent at 1 and 4 wt.%. Spinel content for preformed alumina spinel castables varied
from 10 to 30 wt.% and MgO content for in situ alumina spinel castables varied
from 2.8 to 8.4 wt.%, respectively, and the distribution coefficient (q value) was
maintained at .21 and .29 as per Dinger and Funk model. Different castable com-
positions were processed as per conventional processing technique and further
evaluated for densification and strength studies after heat treatment at 110, 1000,
and 1550◦ C. Fired samples at 1550◦ C were further evaluated for the hot modulus
of rupture study at 1400◦ C and phase analysis study of the matrix phase. Also,
the fired samples were studied for microstructural evaluation.

KEYWORDS
alumina spinel castable, calcium hexa-aluminate (CA6 ), fume silica content, preformed and in
situ spinel

1 INTRODUCTION material or as a result of an in situ matrix reaction between

Both alumina—spinel and alumina—magnesia castables
are used in steel ladle lining in the secondary steelmak-
ing process to meet several requirements, like cleaner
steel production, improving the efficiency of steel, and
optimizing the labor cost.1–6 It has a unique combination
of properties, such as high strength at elevated tem-
peratures, excellent corrosion, and good thermal shock
resistance.7–9 This kind of property is ideal for steel ladle
application where the refractory lining must withstand
the intense operating conditions of the secondary refining
process.10–12 The requirement of different zones of steel
ladle is different, so the selection of the right kind of
refractory material is imperative to achieve prolonged
service life. In the sidewall portion of steel ladles, an
alumina magnesia castable system is employed; whereas
in the bottom portion, an alumina spinel castable system
is used.13 Spinel can be added to high alumina refrac-
tory castables in two different ways: as a preformed raw
Al2 O3 and MgO at temperatures above 1100◦ C.10,14
The typical binder used in in situ spinel refractory
castables is calcium aluminate cement (CAC), which has
several advantages such as adequate working, setting, and
demolding time, as well as good corrosion resistance.15
At high temperatures, CAC reacts with fine alumina to
produce calcium hexa-aluminate (CA6), which has been
shown to improve the thermal shock and creep behav-
ior of castables due to its needle-like morphology, which
acts as in situ whiskers that generally increases material
toughening.16–18
The role of fume silica is different for high alumina
castable both for preformed and in situ spinel forma-
tion. For in situ spinel castable, microsilica is known to
counterbalance the volumetric expansion associated with
spinel formation by the generation of low melting phases-
anorthite and gehlinite in the Al2 O3 –CaO–SiO2 ternary
system. In preformed spinel castable, the role of microsil-
ica is mostly linked with flowability due to its morphology

Int J Appl Ceram Technol. 2022;19:3311–3322. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ijac © 2022 The American Ceramic Society. 3311
3312 KUMAR and SARKAR

which results in better workability.19,20 Sako et al.19 studied

the influence of microsilica on the formation of calcium
hexa-aluminate in alumina spinel castable by varying the
microsilica content in the range of 0–1 wt.%. Jia et al.21
studied the effect of microsilica and various additives
on the expansion behavior of alumina spinel castables.
Sarkar et al.22 studied high alumina spinel castable with
preformed and in situ spinel castable with a distribution
coefficient of .29 with 5 wt.% of fume silica content.
Literature provides a good amount of work on fume sil-
ica containing alumina spinel castable bonded with CAC.
However, there is no comparative study available on fume
silica containing alumina spinel castable with different
particle size distributions (vibratory and self-flow con-
sistency), with in situ and preformed spinel at different
amounts, along with different fume silica contents. Such
a comparative study with all such variations has been
undertaken in the present investigation. The present work
compares the alumina spinel castables with varying in situ
and preformed spinel content (10, 20, and 30 wt.%), a vary-
ing amount of fume silica content (4 and 1 wt.%), with two FIGURE 1 Process flowchart for castable preparation
different particle size distribution coefficients, q = .21 and
.29, as per Dinger and Funk model. This comparative study
uses the same grade of raw materials, prepared castables where CPFT is the “cumulative percent finer than,” D is
are processed under exactly similar conditions, and final the particle size, Ds is the smallest particle size, Dl is the
properties are evaluated after heat treatment at different largest particle size, and q is the distribution coefficient.
temperatures. Different preformed and in situ spinel castable batches
formulated with q values of .21 and .29 are represented
in Tables 2 and 3, respectively, by varying the content of
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES fume silica (4 and 1 wt.%). Spinel content was varied from
10 to 30 wt.% both for .21 and .29 batches for preformed
Alumina spinel castable, containing preformed and in situ batches, and the corresponding variation in MgO content
spinel, were prepared using different grades of white tabu- for in situ batches was between 2.8 and 8.4 wt.%. Spinels
lar alumina as aggregate phase (d ≤ 3 mm, Almatis, India), of 10, 20, and 30 wt.% are equivalent to 2.8, 5.6, and 8.4-
fine alumina (Almatis, India), high alumina cement (CA wt.% MgO, and the batches are prepared according to that,
14, Almatis, India), and fume silica (971U, Elkem, India) so spinel content remains similar after firing at a higher
as a matrix phase. For the preformed spinel batch, spinel temperature.
aggregate (AR 78, d ≤ 1 mm, Almatis, India) was used To achieve proper homogeneity and uniformity in
and for in situ spinel castable composition, fused magne- the castable mix, the mixing process for all the batches
sia fines (<.01 mm, Chinese source) were used. The citric was done in a Hobart mixer (N50, Hobart, US). Initially,
acid (Loba Chemie, India) was employed as a set retarder, dry mixing was done for 15–20 min. Coarser aggregates
and Darvan C-N (Vanderbilt USA) was used as a defloc- were added initially and then finer components were
culant in the formulation of castable. Table 1 shows the mixed, and water is added gradually to the system to
physico chemical properties of raw materials. Self-flow and attain proper flow consistency. After attaining proper flow,
vibratable flow castable batches were formulated using the consistency batches were cast in a cube mold of dimension
Dinger and Funk equation23 with distribution coefficients 25 × 25 × 25 mm3 . For curing, the cast specimen was left
of .21 and .29, respectively. The Dinger and Funk relation in the mold for 24 h in a humid environment condition. It
for continuous particle size distribution is given in the is then demolded, air-dried for 1 day, and then oven-dried
following: for 1 day at 110◦ C. Dried samples were fired at 1000 and
[ ] 1550◦ C for a 1-h soaking. Figure 1 depicts the process
𝐷 𝑞 − 𝐷𝑠 𝑞 flowchart of castable preparation. The bulk density, appar-
CPFT = × 100
𝐷𝑙 𝑞 − 𝐷𝑠 𝑞 ent porosity, and cold crushing strength (CCS) of the dried
and fired samples were tested at 110, 1000, and 1550◦ C.
KUMAR and SARKAR 3313

TA B L E 1 Physicochemical properties of raw materials

Chemical analysis (in Fine Fused High alumina
mass %) WTA alumina MA spinel magnesia Fume silica cement
SiO2 ≤.09 .03 .15 .4 98.1 .3
Al2 O3 99.5 99.7 74 .07 .4 71
Fe2 O3 ≤.02 .04 .25 .22 .1 .2
TiO2 – – Trace Trace – –
CaO – .03 .3 1.4 .2 28
MgO – – 24 97.35 .1 .4
Na2 O + K2 O ≤.40 .1 .32 .26 .4 .3
Particle size (D50 = μm) 2.5
Bulk density (g/c) 3.61 3.3 3.58
Apparent porosity (%) 3.98 1.8 1.3
Sp. surface area (m2 /g) 3.1 20 .44
Phase analysis Corundum Corundum Spinel Periclase Amorphous CA2 , CA
Abbreviation: WTA, white tabular alumina.

TA B L E 2 Batch composition with fume silica 4 wt.%

Material/batch 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
White tabular alumina 60.8 67.0 70.8 77.0 50.8 57.0 70.8 77.0 40.8 47.0 70.8 77.0
Alumina fines 20.7 14.5 17.9 11.7 20.7 14.5 14.9 8.74 20.7 14.5 12.1 5.94
Spinel 10 10 – – 20 20 – – 30 30 – –
Fused MgO – – 2.8 2.8 – – 5.6 5.6 – – 8.4 8.4
Cement 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Fume silica 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Dispersant .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3 .3
Citric acid .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1
Water 5.2 5 8 7.2 5.8 5.4 8 7.8 5.2 5 8.4 8.2

TA B L E 3 Batch composition with fume silica 1 wt.%

Material/batch 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
White tabular alumina 60.8 67.0 70.8 77.0 50.8 57.0 70.8 77.0
Alumina fines 23.5 17.3 20.7 14.5 23.5 17.3 17.9 11.7
Spinel 10 10 – – 20 20 – –
Fused MgO – – 2.8 2.8 – – 5.6 5.6
Cement 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Fume silica 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Dispersant .5 .5 .5 .5 .5 .5 .5 .5
Citric acid .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1
Water 5.8 5 8.4 6.2 5.4 5.2 8 7.8

For the individual measurement of each data, an average
of three values was taken. The hot strength (hot modulus
of rupture [HMoR]) was carried out, on cast samples with
dimension (150 × 25 × 25 mm3 ) and fired at 1550◦ C, in an
HMoR furnace (Bysakh & Co., India-made) with alumina
supporting and mullite loading rods at 1400◦ C with a
soaking time of 30 min. HMoR was done with a span
length of 125 mm and a loading rate of 1.3 kg/s. The phase
analysis study was done on the matrix part of the 1550◦ C
fired sample using a powder X-ray diffraction technique
in an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) using Cu Kα radiation
through an Ni filter (Rigaku, Japan made) at a scanning
3314 KUMAR and SARKAR

F I G U R E 3 Bulk density of in situ spinel castable composition

with 4-wt.% fume silica

F I G U R E 2 Bulk density of preformed spinel castable

composition with 4-wt.% fume silica

rate of 5◦ /min in the range of 10◦ –60◦ . A phase analysis

study on the matrix part was done to understand the
reactions and phases developed in the finer matrix phase
and to reduce the interference of the main corundum as an
aggregate phase. Microstructural analysis of the fractured
surface of castables fired at 1550◦ C was done using a
scanning electron microscope (SEM JEOL JSM-6480 LV)
with the support of EDS analysis.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Densification study

Density values of preformed and in situ spinel castable
with 4% fume silica content and spinel variation 10–
30 wt.% and MgO content 2.8–8.4 wt.% are shown in
Figures 2 and 3, respectively. Increasing spinel content
from 10 to 30 wt.% has reduced the bulk density value.
The specific gravity of alumina is higher than spinel, so
replacing the higher density material with lower density
material has reduced the density values.24 Density values
for all the compositions are found to be decreasing with
an increase in temperature from 110 to 1000◦ C. This was
mainly due to the breakage of hydraulic bonds in cement
phases.25,26 As the temperature was increased to 1550◦ C,
the bulk density value increased for all the compositions.
At 110 and 1000◦ C, the bulk density value for particle size
q = .29 was higher, but at peak temperature, the bulk den-
sity value for q = .21 batches was higher. This was mainly
due to q = .21 batches having a higher fine content than .29
batches, allowing more sintering and resulting in a higher
F I G U R E 4 Bulk density of preformed spinel castable
composition with 1-wt.% fume silica
strength value.24 The density values with the addition of
30-wt.% spinel and 8.4-wt.% MgO with 4 wt.% fume silica
batches have shown inferior properties and have not been
considered for further study. So, a study with 1 wt.% fume
silica content was done for 20-wt.% spinel and 5.6-wt.%
MgO addition for preformed and in situ spinel batches,
respectively.
Figures 4 and 5 represent the density values for pre-
formed and in situ spinel castables with 1 wt.% fume
silica content with 10 and 20 wt.% spinel content and 2.8
and 5.6-wt.% MgO content, respectively. Preformed spinel
castables have a higher density value than MgO containing
ones at all temperatures. This might be due to the presence
of loose and bulk natured free MgO and alumina powder
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 5 Bulk density of in situ spinel castable composition
with 1-wt.% fume silica
F I G U R E 6 Apparent porosity of preformed spinel castable
composition with 4-wt.% fume silica
dried at higher temperatures, as well as expansion related
to spinel formation.22
3.2 Apparent porosity study
Variation in apparent porosity for preformed and in situ
spinel castable with 4 wt.% fume silica is shown in
Figures 6 and 7. The apparent porosity of all the compo-
sitions in Figure 6 increases as the temperature increases
from 110 to 1000◦ C, but it decreases as the temperature
increases to 1550◦ C. The evaporation of water molecules
3315
F I G U R E 7 Apparent porosity of in situ spinel castable
composition with 4-wt.% fume silica
F I G U R E 8 Apparent porosity of preformed spinel castable
composition with 1-wt.% fume silica
trapped inside closed pores, which could not leave after
drying at 110◦ C, causes the porosity to rise from 110 to
1000◦ C.27 As the temperature rises to 1550◦ C, the masses
begin to shrink, resulting in a gradual decrease in porosity
and an increase in bulk density. Figures 8 and 9 represent
variations in apparent porosity for preformed and in situ
spinel castable with 1-wt.% fume silica at different temper-
atures, for different q values of .21 and .29. The apparent
porosity of in situ spinel castable batches is higher than
preformed batches for different q values at elevated tem-
peratures. An opposite trend is observed for preformed and
in situ spinel batches at 20-wt.% spinel and 2.8 and 5.6-
wt.% MgO addition. This could be due to spinel formation
3316
F I G U R E 9 Apparent porosity of in situ spinel castable
composition with 1-wt.% fume silica
F I G U R E 1 0 Cold crushing strength of preformed spinel
castable composition with 4-wt.% fume silica
and sintering occurring simultaneously at higher tempera-
tures. As a result, a greater amount of spinel formation, the
apparent porosity increases, and bulk density decreases.
3.3 Evaluation of strength
Figures 10 and 11 represent variation in CCS with tem-
perature for preformed and in situ spinel castable with
4-wt.% fume silica addition, respectively. The strength
value of preformed and in situ spinel castable batches is not
degraded at intermediate temperatures. Strength values for
preformed spinel containing compositions are found to be
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 1 1 Cold crushing strength of in situ spinel castable
composition with 4-wt.% fume silica
higher than those of in situ spinel containing composi-
tions at high temperatures. This may be associated with
the volume expansion due to spinel formation in the in
situ spinel batches, which affected the densification and
strength development.22 At elevated temperature, the q
value of .21 has a higher strength value; however, at ambi-
ent temperature, the q value of .29 has higher strength.
This is due to higher q values having a larger percentage
of coarser fraction than lower q values, which enhanced
the compaction by lowering water demand and flowabil-
ity. At room temperature, an increase in compaction was
more noticeable, but at higher temperatures, lesser sin-
tering with a coarser fraction reduced the strength of the
q = .29 value. Overall, 30-wt.% spinel and 8.4-wt.% MgO
addition in preformed and in situ spinel with fume sil-
ica 4 wt.% have not shown a better strength value, so the
study is restricted to 20-wt.% spinel and 5.6-wt.% MgO addi-
tion. Further, fume silica content was reduced to 1 wt.%
and strength values were studied for preformed and in
situ spinel castables with two different particle size dis-
tributions .21 and .29 by varying spinel and MgO content
up to 20 and 5.6 wt.%, respectively. Figures 12 and 13 rep-
resent variation in CCS with temperature for preformed
and in situ spinel castable with 1-wt.% fume silica addi-
tion, respectively. The higher strength value is found when
fume silica is reduced to 1 wt.% with q value .21 and spinel
addition 10 wt.%.
3.4 Phase analysis
X-ray diffraction patterns of preformed and in situ spinel
castable with variation in spinel and MgO content with 4-
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 1 2 Cold crushing strength of preformed spinel
castable composition with 1-wt.% fume silica
F I G U R E 1 3 Cold crushing strength of in situ spinel castable
composition with 1 wt.% fume silica
wt.% fume silica addition and particle size distribution .21
and .29 fired at 1550◦ C are shown in Figures 14–17. The
matrix phase is considered only in this XRD analysis as
spinel reacts only in the matrix phase. Alumina and spinel
are the most common major phases found in all the com-
positions, with anorthite as a minor phase in the castable
matrix. Anorthite is a lime-bearing phase formed in the
matrix phase as a result of the reaction of CAC particles
with alumina fines and fume silica. There is no change in
phase content with variation in q value. Spinel peak height
is increasing with an increase in spinel content.
Figures 18–21 represent phase analysis of matrix part
of preformed and in situ spinel castable with variation
in spinel content 10 to 20 wt.% and MgO content 2.8 to
3317
F I G U R E 1 4 Phase analysis of matrix part of preformed spinel
composition with fume silica 4 wt.% and q = .21
F I G U R E 1 5 Phase analysis of matrix part of preformed spinel
composition with fume silica 4 wt.% and q = .29
5.6 wt.% with fume silica 1 wt.%. Corundum and spinel
are the major phases along with hibonite and diopside
as minor phases found in this system. Some traces of
unreacted magnesia are also found in the in situ spinel
system.
3.5 HMoR (hot modulus of rupture)
The HMoR strength values are provided in Figure 22.
HMoR study has been done for higher strength values for
the batch composition (1,3,5,7,13,15,17, and 19) details pro-
vided in Tables 2 and 3 with variation in 4 and 1 wt.%
fume silica content, respectively. Spinel content was var-
ied at 10 and 20 wt.% and MgO content was varied at 2.8
3318
F I G U R E 1 6 Phase analysis of matrix part of in situ spinel
composition with fume silica 4 wt.% and q = .21
F I G U R E 1 7 Phase analysis of matrix part of in situ spinel
composition with fume silica 4 wt.% and q = .29
and 5.6 wt.% with a distribution coefficient of .21. Reduc-
tion in fume silica content from 4 to 1 wt.% improved
the hot strength values both for preformed and in situ
spinel castables significantly.20 Phase analysis study indi-
cated the formation of low melting anorthite phase in the
preformed and in situ spinel castables containing 4-wt.%
fume silica. The presence of the liquid phase in the casta-
bles has resulted in inferior hot strength of the castables.27
Again, the phase analysis study for the 1 wt.% fume silica
containing compositions showed the presence of hibonite
(calcium hexa-aluminate [CA6]) phase for both the pre-
formed and in situ castables. This high melting compound
formation also provided an extra bond within the castables,
which was responsible for higher HMoR values. The same
is completely missing with 4-wt.% fume silica addition.
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 1 8 Phase analysis of matrix part of preformed spinel
composition with fume silica 1 wt.% and q = .21
F I G U R E 1 9 Phase analysis of matrix part of preformed spinel
composition with fume silica 1 wt.% and q = .29
The better interlocking bonding between CA6 and corun-
dum phases has improved the hot strength properties of
castable.28,29 The highest HMoR value is found with 10-
wt.% spinel incorporation and q value of .21 in preformed
spinel castables. For in situ castable composition also, a
higher HMOR value is found with 2.8-wt.% MgO addition
for the same q value. A higher strength value for q = .21
compositions may be associated with greater densification
in the compositions compared to that of q = .29 composi-
tions due to the presence of a greater extent of fines. The
HMoR value of preformed spinel castable is found to be
higher than in situ spinel castable for all the compositions,
which may be due to the nonavailability of free MgO in the
compositions.
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 2 0 Phase analysis of matrix part of in situ spinel
composition with fume silica 1 wt.% and q = .21
F I G U R E 2 1 Phase analysis of matrix part of in situ spinel
composition with fume silica 1 wt.% and q = .29
3.6 Microstructural and EDS analysis
The microstructural investigation of preformed and in situ
spinel castable fired at 1550◦ C with fume silica variation
from 4 to 1 wt.% was done in an SEM with support of EDS
analysis represented in Figures 23–26. Figures 23 and 24
represent well compact microstructure of preformed and
in situ spinel castables with 10-wt.% spinel and 2.8-wt.%
MgO addition, respectively, having q = .21, and 4-wt.%
fume silica content.
Nonuniform sized grains with rounded/spherical mor-
phology are observed indicating the presence of a liquid
phase in the castables. The presence of a low melting phase
3319
FIGURE 22 Hot modulus of rupture of composition
like anorthite (CaAl2 Si2 O8 ) in the system is also confirmed
by phase analysis represented in Figure 14. The presence
of the liquid phase is also responsible for the develop-
ment of dense microstructure.25 EDS analysis shows the
presence of elements, like oxygen, magnesium, aluminum,
calcium, and silicon, and this also confirms that phases,
like Al2 O3 , MgAl2 O4 , and (CaAl2 Si2 O8 ), are present in
the system. Figures25 and 26 represent the CA6 morphol-
ogy of preformed and in situ spinel castables when fume
silica content was reduced to 1 wt.%. The needle-like struc-
ture CA6 structure formed in the matrix phase due to the
presence of silica content not seen at the edges of tabular
alumina.19,30 The presence of the hibonite (CA6) phase is
also confirmed by our phase analysis study represented in
Figures 18 and 20. The CA6 phase helped in the forma-
tion of a better interlocking structure between the matrix
and aggregate phase, which is favorable for the better hot
strength properties.31 This CA6 phase was not seen when
fume silica content was 4 wt.% in both preformed and in
situ spinel castable. EDS analysis shows that elements,
like oxygen, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and silicon,
are present in the system. XRD study also confirms that
phases, like Al2 O3 , MgAl2 O4 , and CA6 , are present in the
system.
4 CONCLUSION
Effect of 4 and 1 wt.% fume silica addition in preformed
and in situ spinel containing alumina castables, with distri-
bution coefficient q = .21 and .29, has been studied. Based
on experimental results, the following conclusion can be
drawn:
3320
FIGURE 24 Microstructural and EDS analysis of in situ spinel castable with 2.8-wt.% MgO addition q = .21 and fume silica 4 wt.%
∙ Increasing the spinel content and replacing heavier alu-
mina in castable composition reduces the density value.
Also, fired density decreases for both preformed and in
situ spinel castables reducing the fume silica content
reduced from 4 to 1 wt.%, which may be associated with
reduced low melting compound formation.
∙ In situ spinel castable has a lower strength value com-
pared to the preformed one, which may be associated
with reduced densification from spinel formation reac-
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 2 3 Microstructural and EDS analysis of
preformed spinel castable with 10-wt.% spinel addition
q = .21 and fume silica 4 wt.%
tion. Also, the presence of a higher amount of spinel or
MgO resulted in lower strength.
∙ Phase analysis study shows the presence of low melting
anorthite phase in both the in situ and preformed spinel
containing fired castables containing 4-wt.% fume sil-
ica. However, it is the hibonite (CA6 ) phase in both the
castables containing 1-wt.% fume silica.
∙ Significantly higher hot strength values are obtained for
both the castable types containing 1 wt.% fume silica
KUMAR and SARKAR
F I G U R E 2 5 Microstructural and EDS analysis of
preformed spinel castable with 10-wt.% spinel addition
q = .21 and fume silica 1 wt.%
FIGURE 26 Microstructural and EDS analysis of in situ spinel castable with 2.8-wt.% MgO addition q = .21 and fume silica 1 wt.%
compared to 4 wt.% one mainly due to the formation of
Hibonite and absence of low melting anorthite phase.
∙ Fume silica containing compositions of 4 wt.% showed
nonuniform sized grains with rounded/spherical mor-
phology, confirming liquid phase formation in fired
castables.
∙ Overall, 10-wt.% spinel and 2.8-wt.% MgO incorporation
for particle size distribution q = .21 and 1-wt.% fume sil-
ica addition showed the best results based on properties
obtained.
3321
AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S
The authors acknowledge the support of Almatis, India, for
providing various raw materials used in the work and the
support of the staff of Ceramic Engineering Department,
NIT, Rourkela during various experimental work.
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How to cite this article: Kumar S, Sarkar R.
Study on preformed and in situ spinel containing
alumina castable for steel ladle: Effect of fume silica
content. Int J Appl Ceram Technol.
2022;19:3311–3322. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijac.14127