Drying and dehydrating cement bonded refractory castables are crucial steps prior to their industrial application. In dense refractories, steam transfer to the surface is hindered, leading to increased vapor pressure within the material and the potential risk of spalling. Elevated pressure results in higher evaporation temperature, creating hydrothermal conditions that likely impact the hydration process and drying behavior of CAC bonded castables. The objective of this study is to provide a better insight into the development of hydrate phases in CAC-bonded refractory castables under these conditions. Autoclave treatments are employed to generate hydrothermal conditions on a laboratory scale, emulating the circumstances during the initial heating of the castable in industrial application.
As part of this study mineral phase analysis using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy is conducted on alumina-based, CAC-bonded matrix mixes spiked with two different types of liquefier after autoclave treatment at various temperatures. The findings are correlated with additional research presented at the same conference, which focuses on Raman spectroscopy of the matrix mixes and determining the pore size distribution of fully fledged castables using mercury intrusion porosimetry.