Spinel containing aluminous refractory castables are currently used in steel ladle due to their high corrosion resistance. Besides this property, these materials have to withstand sudden temperature variations caused by thermal cycling, which could be one of the main causes for shortening the lining's working life. Within this context, the thermal shock damage resistance analysis becomes a fundamental variable for the correct refractory selection. This property can be improved by toughening mechanisms, such as the presence of CA6, associated to calcium aluminate cement in the castable composition. Therefore, the objective of this work is to characterize the cement content effect in the microstructure of in-situ spinel formation castable and its consequences on damage due to thermal shock. The attained results indicated that castables with intermediate cement contents have better thermal shock performance within the range of the ladles' working temperatures. By controlling the amount of cement added to the composition it is possible to increase the thermal shock damage resistance and, therefore, increase the castable working life.
refractory castables; spinel; thermal shock; CA6
