Abstract: In order to develop high alumina unfired brick refractory without carbon for ladle，the effects of binder containing carbon（active magnesium oxide and lignin）and binder without carbon （active magnesium oxide and ρ-Al2O3）were compared in this paper. The main body of high alumina refractory was formed by using different mesh numbers tabular corundum as aggregate， fused magnesia powder，200 mesh tabular corundum and alumina powder as matrix, and then added carbon-containing binder or carbon-free binder. The sample is pressed under a certain pressure and then sintered at different temperatures and times，the effects of different binders on the cold compressive strength，bulk density, porosity and permanent change in dimension on heating of high alumina samples at room temperature were investigated. The results showed that magnesiaalumina spinel was formed by activated magnesia and ρ-Al 2O3 at high temperature，and the higher the content of activated magnesia，the better the high temperature physical properties of the samples；The lignin-containing binder increased the compressive strength of the samples at room temperature，but its high temperature performance was poor.

Key words: Ref racto ry materials, Binder, Active magnesium oxide, Lignin, ρ-Al 2O3, Physical properties