Role of nano titania on the thermomechanical properties of silicon carbide refractories

Nano titania incorporated silicon carbide (SiC) refractory has been prepared through sol-gel route to analyze its effect on SiC physical and thermo-mechanical properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that as-synthesized titania was of anatase phase with an average crystallite size of 9.15 nm. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the nano titania particles were spherical in shape. After firing the samples containing SiC with different amounts of nano titania at 1450 degrees C, bulk density, apparent porosity, cold crushing strength, modulus of elasticity, cold and hot modulus of rupture and thermal spalling index were examined. XRD and SEM analysis were also carried out to determine the ceramic phases and microstructure of the fired samples, respectively. Upon analysis of the obtained results, it showed that addition of nano titania improved the SiC properties and also led to the in-situ formation of TiC, which aided in enhancing the thermal shock resistance and hot strength of the fired SiC refractory samples.