Oxidation protection system for hot elastic modulus evaluation of refractory ceramics

Due to oxidation, hot elastic modulus evaluation of carbon containing refractories is a difficult task. Instead of controlling the furnace atmosphere, a novel technological solution to assess the elastic properties at high temperatures for this sort of material was designed and tested. The effectiveness of an antioxidant paint, a thin nickel foil and the simultaneous use of both protective systems against Al2O3–SiC–C brick samples decarbonization was evaluated. The double layer protection (the antioxidant paint and the nickel foil) showed to be a fully efficient procedure to halt carbon oxidation. Attained results for the high alumina cement-bonded castable confirmed that the nickel foil wrapping did not induce errors in the E measurements at room and high temperatures. Therefore, the hot elastic modulus of Al2O3–SiC–C brick samples was successfully evaluated using this cheaper and practical route.