Fabrication of Refractory Materials from Coal Fly Ash, Commercially Purified Kaolin, and Alumina Powders

Coal fly ash and kaolin are ceramic compounds utilized as raw materials in the production of refractories. Fly ash is an environmental pollutant that emanates abundantly from coal thermal power plants. The management of the large amounts of fly ash produced has been very challenging, with serious economic and environmental consequences. Kaolin, on the other hand, is a natural and synthetic clay material used in medicines, paper, plastics, and cosmetic preparations. In this research, refractory materials (cordierite (Mg₂Al₄Si₅O₁₈), mullite (3Al₂O₃·2SiO₃), and kyanite (Al₂SiO₅)) were fabricated in four different experiments, and an assessment was made of the strength of each of the materials. Coal fly ash and kaolin were each blended with alumina as starting materials. MgO and AlF₃·3H₂O were each applied as additives to the reacting materials. The mixtures were molded and sintered at temperatures between 1000 °C and 1200 °C for three hours in a muffle furnace, and characterized by SEM and XRD. The analysis revealed the evolution of cordierite, mullite, and kyanite alongside other crystalline compounds. The formation of kyanite in experiment C, due to the addition of AlF₃·3H₂O, is unprecedented and phenomenal. The XRD figures show the corundum phases crystallize at 1100 °C in experiments A and B, and disappear at 1200 °C.