The role of hydraulic binders on magnesia containing refractory castables: Calcium aluminate cement and hydratable alumina

Previous work by the authors has shown that the effects of calcium aluminate cement (CAC) and hydratable alumina (HA) can modify the magnesia hydration behavior in aqueous suspensions. As a consequence of these studies, the present paper highlights how varying the content of these binders can affect magnesia hydration in refractory castables using pH, apparent volumetric expansion, mechanical strength and porosity measurements and hydration–dehydration tests. Furthermore, as mechanical strength, porosity and refractoriness also play an important role in these materials, binder-free, magnesia-free and magnesia-and-binder-free samples were also tested as references. It was found that the deleterious effects of magnesia hydration can be greatly minimized by the binder and its selection content.