Thermo-mechanical modelling of cellular ceramic composites by a multiphase approach of porous media

Refractory materials have a wide range of applications in the steel-making industry for example as lining of furnaces, oxygen converters or for ladles. Often, magnesia carbon bricks (MgO-C) are used. These are made of a periclase phase (MgO) with carbon inclusions and pores. In their applications, refractories are subjected to thermal and mechanical loads causing damage. The thermo-mechanical behaviour of MgO-C composites and hence their thermal stability could be improved significantly using cellular MgO-C composites based on carbon foams 1, 2]. The present contribution focuses on the development of a fully coupled phenomenological thermo-mechanical continuum model based on the theory of porous media (TPM) with a new kinematic coupling of the displacement field of all constituents. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)