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Refractory Material
Selection for Steelmaking
By Tom Vert,
Excerpt selections by Eileen De Guire

Selecting refractories for steelmaking operations requires

detailed analysis of service environments, comprehensive
knowledge of refractory products and steelmaking operations,
and a systematic methodology.

There are three key rules that are applicable in refractory

design/selection:
1. You can never select/design the perfect solution,
but you can be optimal!
2. If you do get to an optimal solution, the operation
parameters will change, and you will have to start the
process again!
3. It will always be interesting!

—Tom Vert, Refractory Material Selection for Steelmaking

Editor’s note—
“If you’re in the refractory business, you’re in the steel business.”—Conventional Wisdom.

A typical steel plant uses hundreds of types of refractories, each engineered for specific applications. Those
responsible for specifying refractories must understand the diverse and demanding service environments,
refractory product portfolio, and business drivers—and never compromise on safety to personnel, plant, and
environment.

It is a daunting task. Vert has been there—as the refractory selection engineer and as the expert training
others. Vert’s new book, Refractory Material Selection for Steelmaking, grew out of training materials he
developed for new engineers to teach the fine art of refractory selection for steelmaking. Vert takes the
reader/practitioner through his tried-and-true methods for establishing refractory selection goals. He reviews
refractory types and available materials. He guides the reader through specific applications in the steel plant,
and he pulls it all together with a chapter on refractory purchasing strategies.

To illustrate the increasing market value of the refractories industry and some salient statistics on its biggest
downstream market—the steel industry—see ACerS' infographic on pg 29. At a glance, see trends in the
worldwide production of crude steel and learn about the top five steel-producing countries and companies.

Because the book was in production at the time this excerpt was prepared, it may vary slightly from the
published book, but will match in its essentials.

22 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2

chapter 1
Editor’s note—A steel plant’s refractory selection team Refractory material purchase
must balance safety, energy efficiency, environmental
The first and most obvious
impact, steel quality, and cost. The “total cost of owner-
ship” approach accounts for factors beyond the vendor cost and the one that draws the
invoice that impact the true cost of refractories selected. most attention is the purchase
cost itself—this can represent

Credit: Wiley; Vert

Safety “sticker shock” in some cases,
Safety at any industrial facility is whereby a BOF lining can be
paramount and, in the case of making over $1 million in a one-time
steel, is absolutely critical. The operation purchase. Therefore, it will Fig. 1.15. Localized wear caused by varying material
deals with molten liquids over 1,600°C always draw attention of those thickness.
in close proximity to people, which, in the purchasing process as an
There is always a tradeoff between
therefore, requires a high amount of dili- area of opportunity to drive down costs.
performance and cost. See Figure 1.16 as
gence. In refractory design, everything This purchase cost is then broken
an example. As the purity increases, the
we do from a design point of view, we down by the following equation:
price per kg increases exponentially. This
take into account safety. Total price of the refractories ($) =
is true for most components, i.e., MgO,
weight of material needed (kg) × price
graphite, etc.
Total cost of ownership of the material ($/kg)
The final part of this equation is, of
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is an The weight of the material needed is a
course, the cost/tonne of refractories fol-
analysis methodology that tries to capture function of the design of the vessel, and
lowing the equation:
all the costs associated with a refractory in the only way to change this is to make the
Cost/tonne = cost of the refractories
use from purchase to disposal, including lining thinner in areas in which it has low
($)/steel produced through the cam-
the impact to the process itself. wear without risking undermining other
paign (tonnes)
From a basic point of view, it starts with areas, as presented in Figure 1.15.
Steel produced (tonnes) = number of
what is the total cost/tonne of refractory, The price of the material is the other
heats made × average heat size (tonnes)
including all costs (refractory, process, etc.) variable, and this is influenced by the
Therefore, in order to reduce the
divided by the total tonnage produced. material selected (e.g., fused grain, mate-
cost/tonne, there are only three options:
An example of a TCO for the BOF rial purity, and supplier). Note that the
1. Reduce the cost of the refractories;
furnace, which will be used to demonstrate materials must always be chosen first to
2. Increase the campaign life or num-
how these calculations are done and the match the TMC (thermal–mechanical–
ber of heats on the production unit (lon-
actual impact, is shown as follows. chemical) design analysis (discussed in
ger life)—(less downtime); and
There are six major areas: Chapter 2) and not to have a lower price
3. Increase the average heat size (usual-
1. Actual main refractory purchase; per kg for low price purposes only! This
ly restricted by design of vessel or cranes).
2. Logistical costs; will always be a key pressure point with
In case of design, all three options
3. Installation and demolition costs; people who purchase the refractories
have been and continue to be utilized:
4. Refractory maintenance costs; with a mindset of it being a commod-
1. Example: Redesign the materials in
5. Refractory energy costs; and ity rather than an engineered material.
a BOF in low-wear areas or in the ladle
6. Operational impact. (Which of course we know it is not!)

Steelmaking glossary Adapted from American Iron and Steel Institute www.steel.org
Basic oxygen furnace (BOF) smelt iron from iron ore. The name refers to the bathtub) atop a continuous caster. As steel flows
A pear-shaped furnace, lined with refractory “blast” of hot air and gases forced up through from the tundish down into the water-cooled
brick, that refines molten iron from the blast the iron ore, coke, and limestone that load the copper mold of the caster, it solidifies into a rib-
furnace and scrap into steel. Up to 30% of the furnace. bon of red-hot steel. At the bottom of the caster,
charge into the BOF can be scrap, with hot Electric arc furnace (EAF) torches cut the continuously flowing steel to
metal accounting for the rest. Scrap is dumped A steelmaking furnace where scrap is gener- form slabs or blooms.
into the furnace vessel, followed by hot metal ally 100% of the charge. Heat is supplied from Ladle
from the blast furnace. A lance is lowered from electricity that arcs from the graphite electrodes A “bucket” lined with refractory brick, used to
above, through which blows a high-pressure to the metal bath. Furnaces may be either alter- transport molten steel from process to process
stream of oxygen to cause chemical reactions nating current or direct current. Direct current in a steel plant.
that separate impurities as fumes or slag. Once units consume less energy and fewer electrodes, Tundish
refined, the liquid steel and slag are poured into but they are more expensive. The shallow refractory-lined basin on top of the
separate containers.
Continuous caster (CC) continuous caster. It receives liquid steel from
Blast furnace (BF) Steel from the BOF or electric furnace is poured the ladle, prior to the cast, allowing the operator
A towering cylinder lined with refractory brick to into a tundish (a shallow vessel that looks like a to precisely regulate flow of metal into the mold.

American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org 23

 Refractory Material Selection for Steelmaking

specialists are used for this, more about this in Chapter 5!

because metallurgists usually In closing, the age-old adage, “What
understand the steelmaking is the problem?” is the key to starting in
process but do not understand refractory material selection.
refractory properties and,
Editor’s note—Phase diagrams are essential tools for
Price

therefore, cannot appreciate the refractory engineer. Vert presents industrially impor-
the effect of the former on the tant phase diagrams and walks the reader through cor-
latter. rect interpretation. The chapter addresses fundamental
The TMC analysis is then wear mechanisms and consequent engineering decisions.
These concepts tie together by coming back to TMC
compared against the refracto-

Credit: Wiley; Vert

analysis.
ry properties in order to select
Purity the proper material. Note that The last section of this chapter deals
it is important to comment with three key topics:
Fig. 1.16. Effect of material purity on price. 1. Interactions of TMC analysis;
that the current state of sup-
slagline (lower purity MgO, lower purity plier data sheets is useless, giving only 2. Saturday night designing (see side-
graphite, etc.), which maintains heat life the information that won’t help you. bar); and
and heat size but lowers the initial cost. Supplier data sheets are weak, because, 3. Rubble pile analysis (see sidebar).
2. Example: Redesign an EAF bot- firstly, they give overall chemistry, which The review of all three topics will
tom to go from 500 heats to 1,200 heats is misleading (and usually any key com- pull everything together and essentially
through a change in construction with ponents will be left off), and, secondly, leave readers at the point that they can
same brick sizing and costs, but longer most of the important tests, such as understand what we stated in the first
life leading to a lower cost/tonne. slag testing, have no standard. An ideal section—the key to refractory selection is
3. Example: Redesign a ladle to situation, as a customer perspective, we #1—“What is the problem?” What is the
increase average heat size—thinner safety would like to know the minerals used, wear you are trying to solve once the goals
linings, higher ladle shell—same life of their placement in the particle size distri- have been determined in Chapter 1?
the ladle, same refractory cost—but lower bution, and the engineering properties,
cost/tonne. such as hot modulus of rupture at tem- Interactions of TMC analysis
All options are available, although perature, work of fracture, and thermal For all existing refractory problems
some are more restricted based on steel expansion curves, not just point values. or any new installations that are being
plant design itself. Based on this discussion, it is critical for designed, a full TMC analysis is the first
the end user to take an active role in the step to be done, and we have reviewed
refractory material selection process—but the key components of the first section’s
chapter 2
Editor’s note—“Thermal–Mechanical–Chemical
Analysis” provides a method to systematically specify
refractory performance.

TMC analysis overview

The first thing you want to think about
is what material and installation method
will solve the problem. This will not be
discussed until Chapters 3 and 4 on pur-
pose—because the key to refractory selec-
tion is #1—“What is the problem?” What
is the wear you are trying to solve once the
goals have been determined in Chapter 1?
For all existing refractory problems or
any new installations that are being ana-
lyzed, full TMC analyses (Table 2.1) are
the first steps to be done. These and their
combinations are the wear mechanisms of
Credit: Wiley; Vert

refractories, and their analyses are essen-

tially an examination of the process under
which the refractories are submitted.
A key to this analysis is also to analyze Figure 2.53. Interactions of TMC analysis.
from a refractory perspective. Refractory

24 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2

charts with details on thermal, mechani- Table 2.1. TMC analysis
cal, and chemical key wear mechanisms.
Main mechanism Submechanism Mechanism Examples Design parameter
Let us now review the interactions
between these phenomena as shown in Thermal Peak temperature (T ) Tapping temperatures Material chemistry and physical
properties (purity, sizing, etc.)
Figure 2.53. Thermal shock (ΔT ): Frequency Holding temperatures Thermal expansion properties,
In reality, this diagram, although and amplitude of the toughness
messy, is much more reflective of what temperature change
actually happens in service, with mul- Mechanical Impact Lip skull cleaning, force of Strength/elasticity and work of
metal stream impact fracture of material
tiple interactions and never one single
Abrasion Stirring energy, impact of dust Density, strength/toughness, ratio
wear mechanism. A good example would particles matrix/grains
be a ladle slide gate: Applied stress Mass of bricks sitting on the Strength/creep
• High abrasion environment with lowest layer of bricks (BF stove)
sliding refractory surfaces; Chemical (and Dissolution Slag matrix attack at high Minimize pore size and optimize
thermochemical) temperatures pore size distribution, raw material
• High thermal shock from pouring purity. Freeze plane is moved to the
of steel to shut off; and surface
• High chemical attack from calcium Penetration Fluid slag penetration
vapour for calcium steels. Thermomechanical Strain of thermal expansion Expansion of large precast Thermal expansion properties, and
shapes heat flow design
So, if we are to design for abrasion
Chemical mechanical Spalling of the penetrated Ladle barrel brick spalling – Minimize pore size and optimize
and use very hard and strong materials, (and thermo- zones thermal expansion mismatch pore size distribution, raw material
then we will fail quickly from thermal mechanical of penetrated zone vs original purities, use of non-wetting
shock, because we need soft flexible material materials, moving freeze plane
close to the surface, minimize
materials. If we design strictly for ther- thermal expansion
mal shock, than the abrasion will wear
the plates quickly. If we try to put very shock within a heat or two! There is no So what do we do? We compromise,
dense material with tight pore size for perfect answer, and the process variabil- we balance—I like to compare it to the
corrosion or use a magnesia-type mate- ity in a shop from heat to heat and day fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three
rial, the plate will fail because of thermal to day adds additional challenges. Bears”—it is a balanced approach.

Tips, tricks, and steel plant wisdom

“Saturday night” designing said, “If you design for Saturday night, the rest • White back face from oxidation of gases
The statement of “Saturday night” designing of the week will be fine!” coming up the back side during preheat and/or
is a simple one and basically tries to focus during the process cycling;
on keeping in mind worst case scenarios and Rubble pile analysis
• Vertical, horizontal cracks—How many?
ensuring full risk is built in. Refractory selectors will never be able to get to
Where? How deep from hot face? Corners vs
optimum designs/costs unless they are willing
If you are designing an application based on whole face?;
to get dirty!
average temperatures, average ΔT, average • Slag/steel penetration of the joints;
chemistries, etc., then it will be prone to pre- To truly understand wear mechanisms, you
must be willing to wade into the rubble piles • Depth of penetration of the slag (thin/thick);
mature failure. The worst case scenario for a
in the steel shop. A laser analysis of a steel and
steel plant usually happens on Saturday night
when there is little supervision. The operators ladle slagline thickness will tell you a wear • Dissolution of the matrix or the grains or both.
are pressed to make steel when things like rate, but if you get into the ladle, you will find
All of this will tell you 10 times more about
“hot heats” with tap temperatures of 1,700°C so much more. If you dig a brick or two out by
the wear mechanism than any data scan or
or superheated slags tend to take place. jackhammer, pry bar, or brick hammer, you will
computer analysis of the process.
possibly notice:
Saturday night designing needs to be taken It also gives you the keys to then design
into account—a wise old refractory guru once • Softness of the brick from oxidation of the
around wear mechanisms!
bond that you can feel when you dig it;

American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org 25

Refractory Material Selection for Steelmaking

chapter 3

Performance (wear rate)

Editor’s note—Phase diagrams and fundamental materi-
als science concepts explain and demonstrate wear mech-

Wear rate
anisms for major steelmaking refractory compositions.

Magnesia (MgO) overview

Credit: Wiley; Vert

Magnesia is probably the key ingredi-

Credit: Wiley; Vert

ent in steelmaking refractories in the
world today, and an understanding of its
key characteristics is critical to improve-
Purity, % Impurities
ments and cost/value for any steel shop.
It has a high melting point of Fig. 3.6. Relationship of performance and Fig. 3.12. Relationship between wear
~ 2,800°C in its most pure form and is raw material purity. The ideal is to work rate and impurities for MgO grains.
manufactured from either minerals in in the "sweet spot." Numbers are not accurate­—but the rela-
the ground or some type of seawater. tionship is similar and depends on the
application.
Importance of magnesia purity
Note that the key components of MgO are
1. MgO concentration;
2. Crystal size;
3. Impurities;
4. Sintered/fused ratio; and
5. MgO concentration.
Why do we care?
- Performance, purity, and price are all
related;
- We want to be working in the "sweet
spot" between purity and price, as shown
in Figure 3.6; and
- Goal in life (as a refractory engineer):
To find the sweet spot!
Impurities
There are three important things to
check with impurities—the total amount,
the level of B2O3, and the C/S (or lime/
silica ratio).
Total amount of impurity compounds
includes: Al2O3, CaO, SiO2, B2O3, and
Credit: Wiley; Vert

FeO, Fe2O3
As the total number of impurities
increases, the crystal size decreases, and, Fig. 3.13. B2O3 and MgO binary phase diagram.
then, the wear rate increases, as shown
in Figure 3.12.
Percent B2O3
At steelmaking temperatures
(1,600°C), even with small amounts of
B2O3 (less than 0.001%), a liquid will
form at 1,155°C as shown in the phase
diagram in Figure 3.13. It forms along
the grain boundaries, as shown in Figure
Credit: Wiley; Vert

3.14. So, even if you have >98% MgO, it

doesn’t matter. The amazing crystal will
pop out because of the weakness of the
small amount of liquid phase forming. Fig. 3.14. Liquid formation in MgO grain boundaries with the presence of B2O3.

26 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2

chapter 4 Table 4.1 (adapted). Refractory manufacturing/installation methods
Manufacturing Installation method Definition
Editor’s note—Refractory selection requires knowledge of Brick Shaped refractory made with a press with tightly defined dimensions—cured or fired to a
refractory products and their properties as well as proper high temperature—made to be installed in a prescribed manner by a skilled mason.
installation methods. The refractory portfolio includes Castable – precast Shaped refractory made using a castable with water into a mould with tightly defined dimen-
brick, monolothics, castables, specialty refractories, and sions—cured or fired to a high temperature—made to be installed as a one-piece unit.
installation hardware, which combine in a complex, highly Castable – vibrated Unshaped refractory made using a castable with water into a mould with tightly defined
engineered system for safe and economic steel production. dimensions, vibrated with attached motors or pencil vibrators—dried on site.
Castable – self flow Unshaped refractory made using a castable with water into a mould with tightly defined
Refractory dryout and anchoring dimensions, self flow, into the space—dried on site.
overview Shotcrete (wet gunning) A castable that is mixed and then pumped to a gunning nozzle, and, at the nozzle, an
accelerant is added to have an instant set on the mix and the shape of castable is
Why is the choice of installation maintained without slumping.
method so important to the selection of Gunning A dry refractory material that is mixed and then forced by air to a gunning nozzle, and, at
refractories? Why do we focus on it so the nozzle, water is added to have “plastic” mass of refractory attach to a surface.
much? Material properties and lining per- Plastic A formed refractory in the form of “slices” that can be put into a space and have a rammer
densify them.
formance can be affected by installation
Ramming material An unformed refractory in the form of loose material that can be put into a space and have
and manufacturing of the products. a rammer densify it.
I like to compare it to Mark Twain say- Mortar An unformed refractory mix usually premixed with water in a pail and used for brick joints
ing: "Golf is a good walk spoiled.” Well, (can also come in powder form to be mixed with water on site).
refractory installation is good raw materials Insulation board A formed refractory in the form of “boards” that can be installed on the wall or surface
usually as an insulation material for thermal properties but not necessarily refractory in
possibly spoiled. You can't make the raw nature.
materials better, but you can devastate Insulation blanket A formed refractory in the form of a blanket that can be installed on the wall or surface
properties with poor installation. In order usually, but not necessarily, as an insulation material for thermal properties.
to discuss installation, we need a basic
overview of refractory manufacturing.
Refractory making is at first a series
of crushing, sieving, and mixing of the
different raw materials. Although simple,
the refractory supplier process should be
controlled to fit the chemical formulation
and also the grain size distribution. If
the grain size distribution is not correct,
the physical properties, such as a higher
porosity/permeability, and lower mechan-
ical strengths, will be strongly affected.
The rest of the making process
depends on the type of refractory:
• Brick are required to be made into
a designated shape and must have a cur-
ing treatment to get enough mechanical
strength for handling and transportation
(unfired brick). If refractory is fired,
Credit: Wiley; Vert

brick go through a tunnel shaft or fur-

nace for typically 24 hours at 1,200°C to
as high as 1,800°C. Carbon-free refracto-
ry is fired in air, but resin-bonded pieces, Fig. 4.3. Monolithic installation schematics.
such as slide gates, are fired in coke-filled
boxes and in oxygen-deficient environ- ties rely on the installation and “setting” ultrafine particles, the recipe of which
ments. By firing, the aggregates sinter rules (water addition, mixing, casting makes the core of the supplierknow-
together, making a ceramic bond. time, drying) so that hydraulic bond how). If not correct or in case of unusual
• For monolithic refractory, such as develops with the hydration of the high- impurities brought by other raw mate-
castable, mortar, and plastics, the shap- Al2O3 cement. Rheological behaviour rials, rheology and final properties of
ing method will depend on the instal- of the mixed castable is also of utmost castables will be strongly affected.
lation location, skills needed to install, importance: It is controlled by the Figure 4.3 shows a comparison of
and local site issues, as shown in Table presence of some percentage of active three key monolithic refractory installa-
4.1. This means that refractory proper- components (accelerators/retarders and tion methods.

American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org 27

Refractory Material Selection for Steelmaking

chapter 11
Editor’s note—Final refractory selection combines technical
and operations requirements with business considerations.
Employing the analysis methods introduced throughout the
book, especially the total cost of ownership, the refractory-
selecting engineer will be well equipped to make a final
recommendation to the purchasing team.

Purchasing strategies
Selecting and purchasing refractories
is a very interesting part of the total
business. Recall that in Chapter 1.6
we talked about TCO—Total Cost of

Credit: Wiley; Vert

Ownership. This is an analysis method-
ology that tries to capture all the costs
associated with a refractory in use from
purchase to disposal, including the Fig. 11.1. Key input to refractory purchase decisions.
impact to the process itself—i.e., life, pro-
ductivity, yield, quality, etc.
all others have key input, but the pro- that there are not some refractories that
It should take into account all compo-
duction/process managers are ultimately are not commodities? No! Does this
nents of the buy to make the most ratio-
accountable. mean that we can’t commoditize the
nal, logical decision on an individual
Also, we must remember that select- refractories to help our purchasing agents
buy basis.
ing refractories is a highly complex and negotiate? No!
However, what if there is a “preferred”
highly technical decision—we are selecting But it does mean that the right techni-
supplier who is not the one chosen that is
engineered ceramics, not everyday indus- cal work must be done first with the team
requested to be used? What if the vendor
trial commodities! to get the right product!
selected is on the corporate “black list”?
This is crucial and not just a statement
What if choosing one supplier will gain a
to keep nontechnical decision makers About the author
big savings at a sister plant?
out of the final decision, but instead to Tom Vert is vice president–manu-
There are other key questions as well.
ensure the lowest TCO decision is cor- facturing at ArcelorMittal Dofasco in
Should we buy the refractory by the
rect. For example, it once took one plant Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Contact
pound? By the piece? By the cost per
12 months of trials to design and select Vert at [email protected]. n
tonne of steel produced, or by some other
the proper mortar for installing ladle
method? Also, should purchases be made
argon plugs and nozzles. It had to have
on consignment (invoiced when used) or
the right chemistry, the right consistency,
on a ship-and-bill basis (invoiced when
and it had to bond quickly for installa-
shipped by the supplier)?
tion but have some friability for removal.
All of these are key questions that the
This took multiple trials with different
refractory selector must also take into
bonding systems and mineralogy to get
account and which will be discussed here.
the right mix. Many would think
Another important thing that must be
an 80%-alumina
remembered is that the refractory selector
mortar was
does not normally have the final deci-
just a com-
sion—this is done in combination with
modity mate-
the operators, purchasing people, etc., as
rial and the The book will be published by
shown in Figure 11.1.
lowest price Wiley–ACerS in May 2016. For
Note: Each of these groups has a role
for a 25-kg pail
to play, However, it should be noted details, visit bit.ly/1Ke1iBZ
would be the
o r y
Refractial Selection
that the final decision should reside
deciding factor,
with the operations/process managers,
because they are responsible for safety,
but this would
Mater elmaking
for Srtt, eP.Eng., M.B.A
be totally wrong.
production, and cost within the plant—
Does this mean
s Ve
Thoma Dr. Jeff
Smith
ord by
Forew

28 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 95, No. 2