Effect of h-BN on the microstructure and fracture behavior of low carbon Al2O3-C refractories

h-BN is an ideal substitution candidate for graphite due to its similar crystal structure, better oxidation resistance. In this work, the effect of h-BN on microstructure and comprehensive properties of Al2O3-C refractories are investigated, and the specimen containing 0.5 wt% h-BN (G(0.5)N(0.5)) possesses the best comprehensive properties. The addition of h-BN could reduce the diameter of SiC whiskers, which leads to the highest strength of specimen G(0.5)N(0.5) (42.63 +/- 3.10 MPa). Moreover, the fracture behavior of the specimens is demonstrated using wedge splitting test. The results show that the specimen G(0.5)N(0.5) possesses the highest crack initiation and propagation resistance, which could be attributed to the collaborative effect of h-BN and SiC whiskers. Note worthily, the addition h-BN could improve the thermal shock resistance. The specimens containing h-BN possess the higher residual ratio, compared with the specimen containing no h-BN (G1N0), and the specimen G(0.5)N(0.5) shows the highest residual strength (14.12 +/- 0.67 MPa). Furthermore, the oxidation resistance could be enhanced with introducing the h-BN.