The silica-alumina sol bonding agent, prepared by the sol gel route from ethyl silicate and
aluminium isopropanol, was utilized in the refractory castables. The influence of structure on the heat
transfer has been investigated using different sorts of refractory matrix. The results indicated that the
heat conductivity of sol-gel bonded castables was considerably affected by their structure. The phase
composition of matrix, porosity, pore size distribution and pore size structure were the most important
factors. Thermal conductivity has been measured from the ambient temperature up to 1250 °C. The
influence of crystalline phases and the glassy phase formation and the influence of the pore size
distribution on the thermal conductivity were also described in this work.
Bimodal pore size distribution of a high-plasticity compacted clay