Investigation the Mechanical and Physical Characteristics of Sustainable Refractory Concrete

Abstract This paper is about using waste refractory bricks as aggregate (WRBA) instead of natural bauxite aggregates (NBA) to produce refractory concrete that is environmentally friendly and low-cost. Two types of WRBA from two different sources were used: RBA-1 obtained from the grinding of alumina bricks and RBA-2 obtained from magnesia bricks. For each of the three types of aggregate used, refractory concrete mixes are made with 14% water content and 1:3 cement\Agg. At room temperature and 100% relative humidity, the cast samples were kept for twenty-four hours. They were then opened and allowed to cure for seven days in water. After seven days of curing in water, the specimens were put in an oven to dry at 110 C˚ for twenty-four hours. The samples were burned at a rate of 3.33 C˚/min for two hours at temperatures between 1000 and 1100 C˚. They were then tested after being cooled to 25C˚. Refractory concrete made from WRBA was evaluated by bulk density, shrinkage, compressive strength, Modulus of Rupture, and Weight change and compared to those obtained on conventional refractory concrete. According to the results and compared with ACI 547, refractory concrete made from WRBA can be produced with good high-temperature properties; at these temperatures, refractory concrete made from WRBA shrinks less than that made from NBA.