Dosification of a cement-talc-chamotte refractory mortar subjected to thermal shock

Abstract

A cement-talc-chamotte refractory mixture was dosified by subjecting the same to thermal shock. To this end, specimens compacted to 350 Kg/cm² through compression as well as specimens compacted manually were prepared. All the specimens were submitted to an initial working temperature of 1000ºC and then left to cool down to room temperature. The thermal shock was originated by heating the specimens in an oven till reaching a certain temperature T_¡ and then quenching the same through immersion in water at 20ºC; temperature T_¡ was varied between 170ºC and 970ºC by means of 100ºC increments. The optimum dosification amounting to 90 % cement-talc and 10 % chamotte was obtained by studying mean stress at compression fracture of five cement-talc-chamote mixtures as a function of thermal shock. In addition, thermal fatigue exhibited by the optimum dosification was studied through the determination of mean loss in compressive strength, which amounted to 52% after 7 cycles with ΔT = 500ºC.