Effect of TiO2 Nanoparticles on Properties of Silica Refractory.

Nanosized TiO2 was obtained using a simple chemical route from natural ilmenite available in Tamilnadu, India. The nano-TiO2 particles obtained were comprehensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, FTIR, BET surface area, particles size, and transmission electron microscopic analysis. The results observed reveal that the nano-TiO2 show a rutile crystal structure with an average particle size of 50 nm and a specific surface area of 112.64 m2/g with spherical morphology. Different proportions of nanotitania were added in silica brick composition to determine out the amount of tridymite phase transformation. It was observed that the addition of 0.5 wt% nano-TiO2 leads to highest amount of tridymite phase formation. The effect of incorporation of nano-TiO2 in silica refractory was explored in terms of refractory properties such as bulk density, apparent porosity, cold crushing strength, refractoriness under load, creep in compression, and reversible thermal expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]