Utility of Air-Entraining Additive in the Development of Lightweight Alumina-Based Refractories

Abstract

The paper presents the impact of doses of an air-entraining additive on the mechanical properties of a composite based on aluminous cement. The presented data have been selected from the authors’ most recent research, which supports an economic development of a lightweight composite with the ability to withstand elevated temperatures of up to 1000 °C. The interest in the behaviour of concrete at high temperatures mainly results from the many cases of fires taking place in buildings, high-rises, tunnels, and drilling platform structures. Operation at high temperatures is also of fundamental importance to many major sectors of industry, including material production and processing, chemical engineering, power generation and more. Concrete has a great intrinsic behaviour when exposed to fire, especially when compared to other building materials. However, its fire resistance should not be taken for granted and proper structural fire protection is certainly necessary, e.g. in the form of high-temperature barriers. For the purposes of this experiment, the specimens were composed of cement paste and an air-entraining additive dosage between 2 – 10 % by weight of the cement dose. The properties of investigated specimens, dried at a temperature of 105 °C, were compared with each other. Values of compressive strength, flexural strength, and bulk density are measured in this work. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of the air-entraining agent on the workability of a fresh mixture, its bulk density, and mechanical properties after drying. In the case of a mixture with added short basalt fibres, the effects after high thermal loading were also evaluated. The proposed composites with air-entraining additive over 8 % shown the values of bulk density below 1800 kg/m3, along with the satisfactory strength results.