16/06/2019 Types of Refractory Materials and Their Applications

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Types of Refractory Materials and

Their Applications
Sylvia Lee Follow
Manager at Luoyang Casting Tra… 64 14 5

Various refractory bricks in different sizes and shapes are now available for diverse
applications. The typical refractory materials include fireclay refractories, high alumina
refractories, silica brick, Magnesite refractories, Chromite refractories, Zirconia refractories,
Insulating materials and Monolithic refractory. Depending on temperatures and service
conditions of the applications such as boilers, furnaces, kilns, ovens etc, different types of
refractories are used.

Fireclay refractories
Fireclay refractories are essentially hydrated aluminum silicates with 25% - 45% Al2O3 and
50% - 80% SiO2 and minor other minerals. As fireclay brick is relatively cheap and its raw
materials are widespread, it is the most common type of refractory brick and used widely in
most furnaces, kilns, stoves, regenerators, etc.

Silica brick

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16/06/2019 Types of Refractory Materials and Their Applications

Silica brick is a refractory material containing at least 93% SiO2. The raw material is quality
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rocks. Silica brick has excellent mechanical strength at temperatures approaching their actual
fusion point. This behavior contrasts with that of many other refractories, for example
alumino-silicate materials, which begin to fuse and creep at temperatures considerably lower
than their fusion points. Various grades of silica brick have found extensive use in glass
making and steel industry.

High alumina refractories

Alumina refractories containing more than 45% alumina are generally termed as high alumina
materials. The alumina concentration ranges from 45 to 95%. Commonly used refractory are
sillimanite (61%), mullite (70 –85%) and corundum (99%). The refractoriness of high alumina
refractories increases with increase in alumina percentage. The applications of high alumina
refractories includes the hearth and shaft of blast furnaces, lime and ceramic kilns, cement
kilns, glass tanks and crucibles for melting a wide range of metals.

Magnesite refractories
Magnesite refractories are chemically basic materials, containing at least 85% magnesium
oxide. These are made from naturally occurring magnesite (MgCO3) and Silica (SiO2). The
physical properties of this class of brick are generally poor, and their great value is primarily
in their resistance to basic slags, particularly to lime and iron rich slags. These constitute the
most important group of refractories for the basic steelmaking processes. In addition to
metallurgical furnaces, basic brick are now being successfully used in glass tank checkers and
in lime and cement kilns.

Chromite refractories
Chrome-magnesite material usually contain 15-35% Cr2O3 and 42-50% MgO whereas
magnesite-chromite refractories contain at least 60% MgO and 8-18% Cr2O3. Chrome-
magnesite refractories are used for building the critical paths of high temperature furnaces.
These materials can withstand corrosive slags and gases and have high refractoriness. The
magnesite-chromite products are suitable for service at the highest temperatures and in
contact with the most basic slags used in steel melting. Magnesite-chromite usually has a
better spalling resistance than chrome-magnesite.

Zirconia refractories
Zirconia refractories have a very high strength at room temperature which is maintained up
to temperatures as high as 15000C. Its thermal conductivity is found to be much lower than
that of most other refractories. Zirconia also does not react readily with liquid metals and
molten glasses. They are, therefore, useful as high temperature constructional materials for
metallurgical furnaces and glass furnaces.
Monolithic refractory
Monolithic refractory, the name generally given to all unshaped refractory products, are
materials installed as some form of suspension that ultimately harden to form a solid mass.
Monolithic refractories are replacing the conventional type fired refractories at a much faster

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16/06/2019 Types of Refractory Materials and Their Applications

rate in many applications including those of industrial furnaces.

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Insulating materials
Insulating materials are high porosity refractories with low thermal conductivity used in order
to reduce the heat losses. Insulating materials has a lower density and offers higher thermal
resistance compared to firebricks. In all cases, thermal conductivity of the insulation increases
significantly as temperature increases. A wide range of insulating refractories with wide
combinations of properties are now available. It is likewise cheaper in contrast to the high
duty bricks.

Sylvia Lee
Sylvia Manager at Luoyang Casting Tra… Follow
Lee

14 comments

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Kambiz Rezaianpour 4m
Kambiz Plant Director_Atoor Refractories Company
Rezaianpour
Is it possible for know about equipment and machinery of refractories brick?Focus
on press.
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Charles Kabwe 5m
Charles Founder/ Operations Technical Officer at Macyfico Recycling Enterprise
Kabwe
Very good for my project 
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Ijaz Ijaz Ahmad

8m
Ahmad Looking For a Professional Organisation to Work

good effort 
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Avinash Chandra 12 m
Avinash Thyssenkrupp industrial solutions India Pvt ltd
Chandra
Very Informative
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16/06/2019 Types of Refractory Materials and Their Applications

Muhammad Aminu Aliyu Entrar Cadastre-se1agora

a
Muhammad
Chemical Engineer
Aminu
Aliyu Thanks a million times for this wonderful jobb, at least it provides a good guide to
my work
Gostei Responder 1 gostou

Yevgeniy Shlyahov 2a
YevgeniyExecutive Marketing – GIR (General Investment Resources)
Shlyahov
Thanks a lot for your article. It helped me with english names of refractories. It could
be nice also to complete your article with few words about carbon and silicon
carbide refractories))
Gostei Responder

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