THE EFFECT OF KEY ASPECTS ON THE THERMOMECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF TORPEDO LADLE BRICKS USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

In the current paper, the effect of some aspects, e.g., thermal expansion, thermal conductivity and hot mechanical behavior, on the thermomechanical behavior of Al2O3-SiC-C brick, typically used in torpedo ladles, is described. Computational modeling by finite element analysis (FEA) was applied in an attempt to better understanding the relative importance of each variable for the development of refractories with enhanced spalling resistance. The simulations by FEA indicated that the failure criteria selected in this work are in accordance with the spalling mechanism proposed in the literature and with practical observations. As the stress values were systematically higher after the breakage of the bricks’ edges, it seems more reasonable to avoid spalling by hindering the formation of broken edges than by avoiding the phenomenon itself. The effect of key aspects on the thermomechanical behavior of Al2O3-SiC-C brick was simulated. The key variables to be controlled are the following: stress, thermal expansion, strain and thermal conductivity.