Building and construction
Refractory
Innovative binder for sustainable refractory materials
Building and construction
Innovative binder for sustainable refractory materials
Nouryon is a leading manufacturer of colloidal silica and offers a broad range of Levasil® colloidal silica for refractory materials. Our product ranges Levasil® FO and Levasil® FX are perfect binders for both fiber-based (RFB) and non-fiber-based applications.
Levasil® FX401 - a colloidal silica dispersion with unique properties
Colloidal silica is an excellent binder for refractory materials with decades of proven performance enabling faster and safer installations. However, using standard colloidal silica as a binder in magnesia containing systems has so far not been possible due to a very rapid setting.
Our new development, Levasil® FX401, solves the issue with rapid setting as well as two other main challenges for magnesia-based refractory, hydration and durability. Thus this new binder technology enables magnesia refractory materials with unique performance and lower carbon footprint.
Key performance benefits
Interview with Patrick Wilhelm, Vice President Inorganic Specialties, Nouryon
Article
Our latest publication "Novel colloidal silica technology for in situ spinelization in MgO-containing refractories” shows that Nouryon's Levasil® FX401 colloidal silica binder gives a protective coating, preventing hydroxylation. Also, the unique crystallization behavior of the material resulted in a microstructure with large cubic spinel crystals, indicating a more durable material with longer lifetime and enhanced resource efficiency.
This article was written by Prof. Rafael Salomão, University of São Paulo, in collaboration with Nouryon, just like previous publications on this topic. It was published in golden-access form and can be downloaded here (or via DOI: 10.1590/1980-5373-MR-2023-0438).
Our Technical Development Manager Andreas Sundblom is currently following-up on our recent launch of Levasil® FX401 colloidal silica. If you would like to discuss this publication or our full range of colloidal silica for high temperature materials contact us or Andreas on LinkedIn.
Using Levasil® FX401 as the binder in magnesia containing systems helps with preventing hydroxylation, reducing the potential volumetric expansion. After curing, the reactions between silica and magnesia (MgO) form a packed hydrophobic coating over MgO particles surfaces hindering further hydroxylation. This prevents their volumetric expansion.
It also results in a safer and more efficient drying behavior leading to energy savings and a lower carbon footprint.
The final structure attained after sintering (1500ºC) of the spinel formulations presents high flexural strength, and a microstructure comprised of large and regularly-shaped spinel crystals surrounded by a thin amorphous silica layer.
SEM/EDX images of a spinel forming system containing Levasil® FX401 illustrate the unique crystallization behavior and excellent binder performance achieved (see images to the right). The high-density structure will contribute to a more durable material.
Featured products
Related applications
For more information about our Levasil® colloidal silica products, please contact our experts. We look forward to hearing from you.
Levasil® is a registered trademark of Nouryon in several countries worldwide.
