(1. State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China) （2. NationalProvincial Joint Engineering Research Center of High Temperature Materials and Lining Technology, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China)
MgO-C refractories are widely used as the lining materials in steelmaking industries such as basic oxygen furnace, electric arc furnaces and steel ladles owing to their excellent thermal shock resistance and corrosion resistance originated from the presence of flake graphite and other carbon sources. In order to meet the requirements of clean steel smelting, low carbon society and effective usage of resources, it is greatly important to develop low-carbon MgO-C refractories. Nevertheless, the high temperature performance (especially thermal shock resistance) will be decreased significantly when the content of flake graphite in MgOC refractories is reduced. Therefore, much effort based on the selection of carbon sources, modification of binders, optimization of antioxidants and control of insitu formed ceramic phases was performed to improve the properties of the refractories in the past 20 years. In this review, the recent progress on low-carbon MgO-C refractories is summarized, and the future investigation work including the fabrication of composite/lightweight magnesia-based aggregates with high strength and toughness, the development of new antioxidants, the combined utilization of different antioxidation techniques, the control of synergistic strengthening and toughening of composite nano-carbon/ceramic phase, the preparation of composite powders containing nano-carbon and the selection of flake graphite substitute materials is also proposed, with the aim to provide the guidance for the development and application of low-carbon MgO-C refractories.