Abstract
Three bauxite samples (BX3, BX5 and BX8) of high alumina content from the region of Haleo-Danielle, Minim-Martap in Cameroon were characterized thermally at temperatures between 1000 °C and 1600 °C with the objective to study their suitability for dense refractory materials. The water absorption, porosity, linear shrinkage, flexural strength and bulk density were assessed. At 1600 °C, BX3 and BX5 presented high densification (bulk density of 3.4 g/cm3) with low porosity (7%) with a bi-axial bending strength of 75 and 41MPa respectively. On the contrary at the same temperature, BX8 presented 31.5% porosity, bulk density of 2.54 g/cm3 and bi-axial bending strength of 55MPa. The low content in iron and titanium oxides give BX8 a clear grey color at 1600 °C. BX3 and BX5 presented an average linear shrinkage of about 27% while that of BX8 was only 13% at 1600 °C.