Creep testing of carbon containing refractories under reducing conditions

Mechanical testing of carbon containing refractories at high temperatures requires measures to protect the sample from oxidation. Therefore, special setups for tensile and compressive creep testing were developed to prevent the oxidation of carbon in the sample. A MgO-C refractory was selected for a case study. These developments allow the quantification of the tensile and compressive creep behaviour of MgO-C refractories at temperatures up to 1500 °C. The creep parameters are determined by an inverse evaluation method for the obtained experimental data. They enable the consideration of creep in a thermomechanical finite element simulation of refractory linings in service.