Calcium magnesium aluminate,with the commercial name of MagArmour,is a synthetic material consisting of 70 mass％Al2O3,20 mass％MgO and 10 mass％CaO,approximately.It is characterized by porous microstructure,intergranular aluminates phases and micro-crystalline spinel.Since globally launched in 2017,MagArmour has been successfully applied to various carbon-containing refractories serving for steel refining process.Lots of cases have demonstrated the role of MagArmour in enhancing the service life of carbon containing bricks for ladle lining.The benefits embody in formation of protective coating on hot surface,relief of drilling corrosion in joint positions,and elimination of grooves or cracks caused by mechanical stress concentration.In addition,MagArmour is effective in protecting graphite from deep oxidization so as to be capable of replacing the metallic or carbide anti-oxidants in carbon-containing bricks entirely.By means of chemical analysis and microstructural dissection,postmortem investigations on the used MgO-C bricks from both metal and slag zones of 120t steel refining ladle were conducted to clarify the working mechanism of MagArmour.The formation of protective coating on hot face is attributed to the dissolution of micro-crystalline spinel into contacting slag,which changes the slag chemistry so as to enhance viscosity.The improvement in corrosion/erosion resistance is highly related to the porous microstructure and dispersive aluminates.As well known,evaporation of Mg,Al and SiO,and/or internal migration,occurs in MgO-C bricks at elevated temperatures.The gaseous phases are absorbed by MagArmour particles due to the high surface area of porous microstructure and condense as corresponding oxides.These oxides react with the intergranular calcium aluminates forming liquid phase.With increasing temperature,the liquid phase seeps into the matrix under capillary force.The increased liquid amount improves the flexibility of the matrix and thus releases the internal stresses concentration resulting from mechanical stress and temperature gradient.Meanwhile,densification of the matrix microstructure occurs under the static pressure generated by liquid steel and molten slag,which blocks the channels of oxygen infiltration.