Preparation of high strength foam ceramics from sand shale and steel slag

Foam ceramics with high strength were successfully fabricated by using sand shale and steel slag as the major materials and SiC as foam agent. The influence of raw materials ratio and heat treatment temperatures on crystalline phases, porosity, mechanical properties and pore structures was investigated via XRF, XRD, SEM, DTA-TG, Micro-CT. The results indicate that the raw materials composed of 94 wt% sand shale and 6 wt% steel slag enable the fabrication of foam ceramics possessing strength of 29.98 MPa, bulk density of 0.821 g/cm³, total porosity of 67.22%, closed porosity of 55.27% and thermal conductivity of 0.08 W/(m·K). Micro-CT result shows that the pores with an average size of 267.05 μm are isolated. Pore wall thickness conforms to normal distribution, and it ranges from 18 to 42 μm. The superior property makes it promising high-strength and lightweight material in application fields, including thermal insulation materials and lightweight building materials.