Material Technology

U. V. Patel College of Engineering

Ganpat University
 Refractory
➢ Refractory is any material that can withstand high
temperature, without softening or suffering a
deformation in shape.

➢ These are the essential material of construction in

metallurgy, engineering, chemical industries and
without their use, it is impossible to maintain required
temperature.
Objectives
➢ To confine heat (resist loss of heat)

➢ To resist corrosive action of molten

models
Characteristics
➢ Should be infusible

➢ Chemically inert,

➢ Withstand load of structure

➢ No crack and suffer loss in size

➢ Expand and contract uniformly

 Classification
On basis of the chemical properties refractories are classified into
three types.

REFRACTORIES

ACIDIC BASIC NEUTRAL

1. Acid refractories:

➢ Refractories which consist of acidic material like (Al2O3) and

silica(SiO2).

➢ These are not attacked by acidic material but easily attacked by basic
material.

2. Basic refractories:

➢ Refractories which consist of basic material like CaO, MgO etc.

➢ These are not attacked by basic material but easily attached by acids.

3. Nautral refractories

➢ These are made from weakly acid or basic material like ‘C’, cromite
(FeO, CrO2), zirconia (ZrO2), Sic( carborundum) etc.
Shapes of Refractory Bricks
 Properties of Refractories
• Melting point: Pure substances melt instantly at a specific
temperature. Most refractory materials consist of particles bonded
together that have high melting temperatures. At high
temperatures, these particles melt and form slag. The melting
point of the refractory is the temperature at which a test pyramid
(cone) fails to support its own weight.
• Size: The size and shape of the refractories is a part of the design
of the furnace, since it affects the stability of the furnace structure.
Accurate size is extremely important to properly fit the refractory
shape inside the furnace and to minimize space between
construction joints.
• Bulk density: The bulk density is useful property of refractories,
which is the amount of refractory material within a volume
(kg/m3). An increase in bulk density of a given refractory increases
its volume stability, heat capacity and resistance to slag
penetration.
 Properties of Refractories
• Porosity: The apparent porosity is the volume of the open pores,
into which a liquid can penetrate, as a percentage of the total
volume of the refractory. This property is important when the
refractory is in contact with molten charge and slag. A low
apparent porosity prevents molten material from penetrating into
the refractory. A large number of small pores is generally preferred
to a small number of large pores.
• Cold crushing strength: The cold crushing strength is the
resistance of the refractory to crushing, which mostly happens
during transport. It only has an indirect relevance to refractory
performance, and is used as one of the indicators of abrasion
resistance.
• Creep at high temperature: Creep is a time dependent property,
which determines the deformation in a given time and at a given
temperature by a refractory material under stress.
 Properties of Refractories
• Volume stability, expansion, and shrinkage at high temperatures:
The contraction or expansion of the refractories can take place
during service life. Such permanent changes in dimensions may be
due to, for example, a chemical reaction, which produces a new
material of altered specific gravity.

• Reversible thermal expansion: Any material expands when

heated, and contracts when cooled. The reversible thermal
expansion is a reflection on the phase transformations that occur
during heating and cooling.
 Properties of Refractories
Thermal conductivity:
• Thermal conductivity depends on the chemical and mineralogical
composition and silica content of the refractory and on the application
temperature.
• The conductivity usually changes with rising temperature.
• High thermal conductivity of a refractory is desirable when heat transfer
though brickwork is required, for example in recuperators, regenerators,
muffles, etc.
• Low thermal conductivity is desirable for conservation of heat, as the
refractory acts as an insulator. Additional insulation conserves heat but at
the same time increases the hot face temperature and hence a better
quality refractory is required. Because of this, the outside roofs of open-
hearth furnaces are normally not insulated, as this could cause the roof to
collapse.
• Lightweight refractories of low thermal conductivity find wider
applications in low temperature heat treatment furnaces, for example in
batch type furnaces where the low heat capacity of the refractory
structure minimizes the heat stored during the intermittent heating and
cooling cycles. Insulating refractories have very low thermal conductivity.
 Fireclay Refractories
• Firebrick is the most common form of refractory material. It is used
extensively in the iron and steel industry, nonferrous metallurgy,
glass industry, pottery kilns, cement industry, and many others.
• Fireclay refractories, such as firebricks, siliceous fireclays and
aluminous clay refractories consist of aluminum silicates with
varying silica (SiO2) content of up to 78 percent and Al2O3 content
of up to 44 percent.
• The table shows that the melting point (PCE) of fireclay brick
decreases with increasing impurity and decreasing Al2O3. This
material is often used in furnaces, kilns and stoves because the
materials are widely available and relatively inexpensive.
 High alumina refractories
• Alumina silicate refractories containing more than 45 percent
alumina are generally termed as high alumina materials.

• The alumina concentration ranges from 45 to 100 percent. The

refractoriness of high alumina refractories increases with increase
in alumina percentage.

• The applications of high alumina refractories include the hearth and

shaft of blast furnaces, ceramic kilns, cement kilns, glass tanks and
crucibles for melting a wide range of metals.
 Silica brick
• Silica brick (or Dinas) is a refractory that contains at least 93
percent SiO2. The raw material is quality rocks.
• Various grades of silica brick have found extensive use in the
iron and steel melting furnaces and the glass industry.
• Advantages
• The outstanding property of silica brick is that it does not
begin to soften under high loads until its fusion point is
approached. This behavior contrasts with that of many
other refractories, for example alumina silicate materials,
which begin to fuse and creep at temperatures
considerably lower than their fusion points.
• High resistance to thermal shock (spalling)
• High refractoriness.
• Flux and slag resistance
• Volume stability
 Magnesite
• Magnesite refractories are chemically basic materials, containing at
least 85 percent magnesium oxide. They are made from naturally
occurring magnesite (MgCO3).
• The properties of magnesite refractories depend on the
concentration of silicate bond at the operating temperatures. Good
quality magnesite usually results from a CaO-SiO2 ratio of less than
two with a minimum ferrite concentration, particularly if the
furnaces lined with the refractory operate in oxidizing and reducing
conditions.
• The slag resistance is very high particularly to lime and iron rich
slags.
 Chromite refractories
• Two types of chromite refractories are distinguished:
• Chrome-magnesite refractories, which usually contain 15-35
percent Cr2O3 and 42-50 percent MgO. They are made in a wide
range of qualities and are used for building the critical parts of high
temperature furnaces. These materials can withstand corrosive slags
and gases and have high refractoriness.
• Magnesite-chromite refractories, which contain at least 60 percent
MgO and 8-18 percent Cr2O3. They are suitable for service at the
highest temperatures and for contact with the most basic slags used
in steel melting. Magnesite-chromite usually has a better spalling
resistance than chrome-magnesite.
 Zirconia refractories
• Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) is a Polymorphic material.
• It is essential to stabilize it before application as a refractory, which
is achieved by incorporating small quantities of calcium, magnesium
and cerium oxide, etc. Its properties depend mainly on the degree
of stabilization, quantity of stabilizer and quality of the original raw
material.
• Zirconia refractories have a very high strength at room temperature,
which is maintained up to temperatures as high as 1500°C. They are
therefore useful to construction materials in furnaces and kilns.
• The thermal conductivity of zirconium dioxide is much lower than
that of most other refractories and the material is therefore used as
a high temperature insulating refractory.
• Zirconia exhibits very low thermal losses and does not react readily
with liquid metals, and is particularly useful for making refractory
crucibles and other vessels for metallurgical purposes.
 Oxide refractories (Alumina)
• Alumina refractory materials that consist of aluminium oxide with
little traces of impurities are known as pure alumina.

• Alumina is one of the most chemically stable oxides known. It is

mechanically very strong, insoluble in water, super heated steam,
and most inorganic acids and alkalies.

• Its properties make it suitable for the shaping of crucibles for fusing
sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide and sodium peroxide.

• It has a high resistance in oxidizing and reducing atmosphere.

Alumina is extensively used in heat processing industries. Highly
porous alumina is used for lining furnaces operating up to 1850°C
 Monolithics
• Monolithic refractories are single piece casts in the shape of
equipment, such as a ladle as shown in the figure. They are rapidly
replacing the conventional type fired refractories in many
applications including industrial furnaces.
• Advantages
➢ Elimination of joints which is an inherent weakness
➢ Faster application method
➢ Special skill for installation not required
➢ Ease of transportation and handling
➢ Better scope to reduce downtime for repairs
➢ Considerable scope to reduce inventory and eliminate special shapes
➢ Heat savings
➢ Better spalling resistance
➢ Greater volume stability
➢ Monolithics are put into place using various methods, such as ramming,
casting, gunniting, spraying, and sand slinging.