Sintering behaviour and microstructure development of Indian bauxite

Two varieties of Indian bauxite with different impurities were used to study their sintering behaviour and phase development with sintering temperature starting from 1000-1650°C. There phase development and microstructure characterisation were done by X-ray diffraction and Scanning electron microscopy. It was found that both the sintered samples not only contains large amount of vitreous phase, but also contains considerable amount of low melting FeAlTi05 phase. Presence of vitreous phase and low melting FeAlTi05 phase is primarily responsible for inferior high temperature properties of bauxite. Bauxite samples exhibit a RUL of 1450°C. Prevention of low melting phases can increase the RUL to >1600°C