| abstract |
A sintered refractory product consisting of: - a granulate consisting of all the particles having a size larger than 100 μm, or "grains", the granulate representing between 55% and 85% by mass of the product, the maximum size of the grains being smaller than 3.5 mm, and - a matrix binding said grains and consisting of the particles having a size smaller than or equal to 100 μm, or "fine particles", said matrix comprising at least one crystallised SiAlON phase of formula Si x Al y O u N v , in which - x is greater than or equal to 0, greater than 0.05, greater than 0.1 or greater than 0.2, and less than or equal to 1, less than or equal to 0.8 or less than or equal to 0.4; - y is greater than 0, or greater than 0.1, greater than 0.3 or greater than 0.5, and less than or equal to 1; - u is greater than or equal to 0, greater than 0.1 or greater than 0.2, and less than or equal to 1 or less than or equal to 0.7; - v is greater than 0, greater than 0.1, greater than 0.2 or greater than 0.5, or greater than 0.7, and less than or equal to 1; at least one of stoichiometric indices x, y, u and v being equal to 1, the volume of the fraction of the pores having a size of between 10 and 100 microns being greater than 4% of the total volume of pores. |