Effects of Atmospheric Conditions on Slag Corrosion Resistance of Lightweight Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-MgO Castables

By adopting dynamic induction furnace corrosion test, the corrosion mechanism of lightweight Al2O3-MgO castable with different environmental oxygen partial pressure was investigated through macro- and micro-analysis, XRD and thermodynamic simulation. The atmospheric condition was set to P(O2) = 0.21 atm or P(Ar) = 1.0 atm. The attained results showed that a reduced slag corrosion but intensified slag penetration happened at low environmental oxygen partial pressure condition. With P(O2) = 0.21atm, Mn and Fe in slag were present in the form of divalent and/or trivalent cations and were incorporated into spinel to form MnFe2O4 solutions and MgAl2O4 solutions during corrosion process. Since Fe, Mn ions are largely consumed, liquid with high viscosity formed and the continuing infiltration was suppressed. Under P(Ar) =1.0 atm, corrosion on castable aggregates was significantly weakened, and the reaction products under this condition are mainly MgAl2O4 and CA6.