Properties of sol-gel bonding castables

The silica-alumina sol bonding agent, prepared by the sol gel route from ethyl silicate and aluminium isopropanol, was characterized by X ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, particle size distribution. It was utilized in the corundum based refractory castables. The properties and characters such as cold crushing strength, apparent porosity, hot modulus of rupture, pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectral analysis, thermal shock and slag corrosion resistance tests of the selected samples from both the sol-gel bonding castables and the cement bonding castables were determined to identify the role of sol-gel additive in castables. The results show that the sol-gel bonding castables have a lot of advantages compared with traditional cement bonding castables and are more suitable for application in the ladles.