In-situ development of carbon nanotubes network and graphitic carbon by catalytic modification of phenolic resin binder in Al2O3-MgO-C refractories

In-situ formation of cross-linked carbon nanotubes network reinforced the refractory matrix and helps to improve the mechanical properties at elevated temperature. In this paper, the effect of modified phenolformaldehyde (PF) resin binder on the various mechanical properties of alumina-magnesia-carbon (AMC) refractories was investigated. Initially, PF resin was modified by adding a different proportion of nickel catalyst. The AMC specimens (with the 7% carbon) were prepared by using 5% of modified PF resin. The pressed samples were cured at 180 degrees C for 24 h and characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and FE-SEM. The characterisation shows that, in-situ formation of graphitic carbon and carbon nanotubes network in the specimens due to modification of PF resin. In-situ formation of phases leads to enhancement of density and mechanical properties of refractory at elevated temperature due to the reinforcing effect. (C) 2017 The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean Ceramic Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.