ENGINEERING MATERIALS

REFRACTORY MATERIALS

THEORY

Refractory Materials:
1. Introduction
The substances or compounds which can withstand high
temperature damage or spoilage are known as refractory
material. Generally the materials having softening point
around 15800C are termed as refractory material.

2. Classification of Refractory Material

There are three different methods of classification.
1.

Classification on the basis of

temperature
(a)

Low refractory material having PCE less then

15800C
(b)

High refractory material having PCE from 16000C

to 19000C
(c)

Super refractory material having PCE more than

20000C
PCE is Pyrometric Cone Equivalent and is the ability to
withstand exposure to elevated temperature without
undergoing appreciable deformation.
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2.

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THEORY

Classification on the basis of

chemical resistance
(a)

Acid refractory material which has resistance

towards acid.
e.g. silica, aluminium silicates.
(b)

Bases refractory material which has resistance

towards basic compounds e.g. CaO, MgO, 2 3 ,dolomite,

bauxite etc.
(c)

Neutral refractory material which has resistance

towards acids as well as bases. e.g. chromite, graphite,

zirconia

3.

Classification on the basis of

chemical composition
This depends upon the actual chemical compound that
are used while preparing refractory material, e.g. Raw
material (main) for refractory.
(a) Silica 2

(b)

Aluminium

silicate

2 3, 2
(c) Alumina - 2 3

(d) Magnesia MgO

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(e)Dolomite:CaMg(CO3)2 (f) Lime CaO

(g) Zirconia 2

(h) Graphite

4. General Procedure of Manufacturing

Refractory Material

Bricks:
The various steps involved in the preparation of different
types of refractory materials are identical with some change
in the firing temperature. The steps involved in the
preparation of refractory bricks are as follows:

1.

Selection of raw material:

The raw material is obtained from the mines which is
analyzed for its composition and the material which has
required composition is taken for further process.

2.

Crushing, grinding and powdering

If the raw material is in the form of stone, then it is
converted into small pieces with the help of jaw crushers.
Further, the small pieces are passed through grinders to

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obtain powder. The fine powder is produced by using ball

mills in which the impact of the iron ball gives fine powder.

3.

Sieving:
A sieve, or sifter, is a device for separating wanted
elements from unwanted material, typically using a woven
screen such as a mesh or net.The powder from the ball
mill is passed over the sieve to have uniform size of the
raw material. Generally, vibratory or tubular sieves are
used. The grain size of raw material is important because
compactness and porosity of the bricks depend upon the
particle size of raw material.

A ball mill,the dotted boundary rotates

and has large iron balls inside which further crush the
material

A sieve
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4.

REFRACTORY MATERIALS

THEORY

Mixing and blending batches

The various raw materials are weighed according to batch
size. Then, it is mixed in mixer after adding sufficient
amount material of water (upon 20%) and binders.
(Binders- gum, cellulose, molasses, clay etc.) Various
types of mixers are available. The aim of mixing is to
produce homogeneous body. The proper mixing will give
better results. The mixing time depends upon individual
products. Different batches are again blend together and
adjust the right composition of final bricks.

5.

Fabrication and moulding:

The aim of

moulding refractory batches is to produce bricks, blocks,

tiles or special shape which can be handed, placed for firing
and subsequently processed to yield a permanent fully
stable article. The above batches contain generally 4.22%
of water. Various machines are available for moulding
purpose right from hand moulding to automatic moulding
machines. The principal involved in the moulding is the
pressing of fixed weight of refractory material in a fixed
volume (mould) to acquire necessary shape.

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6.

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Drying
The drying is carried out by exposing the moulded bricks
into the sun or by using oven at 140oC. The drying is
carried out to remove some moisture, so that the bricks
can become hard.

7.

Firing in the kiln

(a)

The bricks are arranged in the kiln in such a way

that they will get heated uniformly from all the sides.
About 7000-8000 bricks are heated at a time in a kiln.
Generally, vertical down draught kiln is used for firing.

(b)

Heating in the kiln: The hot air or gases are

passed through side tunnels which strikes to the dome

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and get deflected in down ward direction. The bottom of

the furnace is provided with suction pump, so the flow
of hot gases can be controlled.
Initially, temperature is maintained at 140oC and 400oC
to remove the moisture and chemically bonded water.
Then, it is brought to 700-900oC to decompose any
carbonates which are present into oxides. Further, it is
slowly brought to the red hot temperature.

At this temperature, the raw material undergoes

physical change to form refractory material (i.e.
allotropic modification). This firing takes about 6-20
hours to form refractory material.

8.

Cooling
Doors, windows and tunnel of the kiln are closed and hot
refractory material, is allowed to cool under natural
condition without using any cooling agent.

The cooling takes place within 7 days. Then, they are

removed, inspected and stored in open space.

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Raw material

Crusher

Ball

Ball

Mill

Sieve

Mill

Sieve
Motor
H2O
Molasses

Machine OR Hand moulding

Mould

Dryer (80C - 120C)

OR
Sun drying
Down Dragght kiln

Dome

Windows
Brick about
7000-8000 at a time
Hot air
Inspection
Store
Rejected
Gorg

Flow sheet diagram for manufacturing of refractory

material
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THEORY

DOLOMITE BRICKS
Dolomite is a magnesium limestone (CaMgCO3). It occurs in
nature.
Calcined dolomite brick particles are united with the help of
silicate binders and water.
Mixture is then molded to bricks which are air dried and burnt to
temperature ranging between 1200 to 1560oC for about one day
which gives stabilized dolomite bricks. Such bricks are quite
stable towards basic slag.

Properties
Dolomite bricks are more porous, more shrinkage
softness and less stronger than magnesia bricks.
They can be used up to 2300oC without load and up to
1650oC with load.
Uses
Dolomite is generally used as a repairing material rather
than as a direct refractory because of its defects like porosity,
shrinkage and softness.

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However stabilized dolomites are used in electric furnaces,

open hearth furnaces etc, and are cheap substitute for magnesia
bricks.

SILICON CARBIDE BRICKS (SiC)

Silicon carbide is made in an electric furnace at temperature
of 1500oC from sand and coke with the addition of some sawdust
and a little amount of a salt. When sawdust is burnt, the gases are
produced which increases the porosity of the charge.

Salt reacts with iron and similar impurities present in raw material
forming volatile chlorides. This increases the purity of the final
product.

The silicon carbide is removed from the furnace then the product
is mixed with bonding agent like clay or silicon nitride then shaped
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by molding and dried at approximately 1400 to 2000oC in electric

furnace.

Recently, self bond type silicon carbide bricks have been

prepared; in this silicon carbide particles are mixed with a
temporary binding agent such as glue then pressed and fired at
2000oC, at this temperature the inter-crystalline bond of silicon
carbide develops.

Properties

I. Silicon Carbide Bricks are dark grey and blue black in color.
II. They have high thermal conductivity and very low co-efficient
of expansion.
III. Clay bonded bricks can be used up to 1750oC.
IV. Nitride bonded bricks have a high strength and superior
thermal shock resistance than clay bonded bricks.
V. Self bonded products have high refractoriness, superior
strength, high density, high abrasion resistance and high
chemical resistance.
VI. However silicon carbide bricks tend to oxidize to silica when
heated in air at temp of 900 to 1000OC, but this drawback is
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overcome by coating them with thin layer of zirconium(type

of mineral)
Uses
They are used for partition walls of chamber kilns, Coke
ovens and muffle furnaces due to their hardness, great
strength and toughness.
They are also used as heating elements in furnaces in the
form of rocks and bars.

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