In order to develop new high-temperature processes and installations working essentially with the atmospheres having a low oxygen partial pressure and to improve the performance of the thermal units with simultaneous energy and material conservation, it is necessary to expand the production range of the lightweight high-purity corundum refractories containing 98-99% Al20s* [i].The Soviet industry mastered the casting technology for the production of lightweight corundum products using chalk additions [1][2][3]. However, such products contain up to 3.5% CaO. Numerous technological routes based on casting and semidry compaction have been developed for manufacturing lightweight corundum products; however, the products contain significant amounts of impurities [4][5][6][7][8][9] or exhibit low strength [i, i0] and high apparent density [ii]. Lightweight high-alumina corundum products are obtained by treating with a hydrochloric acid solution [12], introducing ashless combustible additives like polystyrene [13,14], or using hollow corundum granules [15]. However, the first method is quite complex, the second method requires machining for producing shaped products, and the third method has not yet been developed completely.Slip casting and the methods of semidry and plastic compaction are suitable for obtaining thin-walled or small products of simple shapes [1][2][3][8][9][10].The technique of vibratory densification [16], usually employed for shaping dense refractories [17][18][19][20][21][22], is found to be highly effective for manufacturing large-size intricate products. This paper presents the results of our investigations on the conditions of vibratory densificatlon of lightweight corundum products based on corundum granules obtained by the method of blowing [23] or a porous corundum filler (briquette/aggregate) obtained by crushing the cast preforms made from a slip based on alumina with a combustible low-ash additive and fired at 1750~The body was prepared by mixing the coarse fractions of the filler (hollow granules or a porous briquette) of predetermined sizes with a binder of the fine gained fraction (commercial-grade GK alumina subjected to vibrational milling up to a grain size of 8-10 ~m) with subsequent moistening. Table 1 shows the characteristics of the starting materials. The products made from the obtained body were fired at 1750~ for a period of 6 h.We studied the effect of the limiting grain size of the filler, its content, and the content of the finely milled alumina on the bulk density and the angle of repose of the
99,60Content, %