Corrosion resistance of alumina-sialon refractories for application in aluminium industry

This paper describes the manufacturing and corrosion resistance of sialon based ceramics for application in the modern aluminium industry. Sialon based ceramics are characterized by excellent mechanical properties at high temperatures, good corrosion and thermal shock resistance and low wettability, thus this material is suitable for the long term liquid aluminium contact. To obtain reaction bonded materials in this work, relatively cheap and commonly available components were used: fine Si and Al₂O₃ powders. The specimens were examined after heating in flowing nitrogen for the phase composition and dimension stability. Sintered materials were tested for corrosion resistance and wettability in liquid aluminium. The microstructure of the contact surface was examined by SEM/EDS methods.