How To Choose the Best Refractory Material

How To Choose the Best Refractory Material

We commonly hear engineering and maintenance managers tell us, &#;I want to use the latest technology&#; or &#;I want to use the best refractory material.&#;

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It&#;s a logical request, right?

And there&#;s been some buzz in our industry over the past few years about new refractory materials on the market such as gunite and shotcrete technologies that incorporate colloidal silica or other similar binder systems. And in the right applications these are really good materials.

We appreciate buzz about new refractory products, but we&#;ve been noticing that it&#;s causing some of our prospects and customers to ask for (or in some cases, demand) a specific product.

And in some cases, that&#;s a mistake.

It&#;s About the Application, Not the Material

Let us start by stating that there&#;s no single &#;perfect&#; refractory material. There are many well-engineered refractory products that are ideal for some applications, but a poor fit for others.

The focus should be on the best material for the specific application. Because the application is what matters most &#; even more so than the material. Naturally time and cost come into play.

Let&#;s take a look at an example. In the below photo, the material on the burner wall was installed via shotcrete by another contractor. It lasted 3 years before failing.

The next photo shows the same type of burner wall in a similar facility, but it uses rammed plastic instead of shotcrete. F.S. Sperry installed this rammed plastic over 11 years ago. It&#;s still holding strong in .

Both shotcrete and rammed plastic are good materials. But on the surface, someone starting in our craft would probably consider shotcrete a better material than rammed plastic. It&#;s a common conclusion, but the above example shows:

Though rammed plastic is not considered &#;the best&#; refractory material technologically, it far and away outperformed shotcrete in this application!

Beware of the Hype

Setting up shop as a refractory contractor isn&#;t difficult. There are plenty in our industry who have come and gone over the years. But staying around is difficult.

One thing to watch out for when reviewing contractors in our craft is the contractor who universally pushes a specific material for most applications. They may be genuine in their promotion of a new high-quality material, but if that&#;s all they do, they&#;re going to recommend it for every application, right?

Neither the contractor nor the customer understands what&#;s happening at the time: the contractor is recommending a new material, and the customer wants the best material, so all is good, right?

And then the refractory underperforms or worse, fails, and nobody understands why.

If we recommended using rammed plastic instead of high-tech shotcrete or castable, an inexperienced plant manager might feel like we&#;re not offering him the latest technology and best material. But keep in mind that sometimes, hype is short-lived. Since many contractors no longer know how to properly ram plastic, there&#;s no hype about it.

Rammed plastic wasn&#;t sexy or cutting edge for this customer, but it was clearly the &#;best&#; refractory material for their application. Just like they requested.

Takeaways

1. Research your material options fully &#; particularly with regard to lifespan in your specific application.
2. Be leery of contractors who focus on a single material or single application type. We call them one-dimensional contractors.
3. Decide what you want to spend.
4. Work with a team who understands a wide variety of materials and application methods to find the best material and price combination for you.

Of course, we hope you&#;d reach out to us and let us help you select the best material for your application.

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Furnace construction refractory materials mainly include refractory materials, heat insulation materials, steel, wood, cement and other general building materials and other auxiliary materials. Among them, refractories are the basic materials of industrial kilns.

Different refractory materials are suitable for different industrial kilns due to differences in chemical mineral composition, microstructure and production processes. Only the varieties, specifications and performances of various furnace materials must be grasped, reasonable selection and correct use of various types of refractories. Refractory materials can guarantee the quality of industrial kilns and increase the service life of kilns.

Because refractory materials are mainly used as structural materials for high-temperature kilns and other thermal equipment, as well as industrial high-temperature containers and parts, they can withstand various physical and chemical changes and mechanical effects in them. Therefore, it must have the following basic requirements:

In order to meet the requirements of high temperature operation, it should have the properties of not softening and not melting at a sufficiently high temperature;

It can withstand the load of the kiln and the stress in the process of operation, and will not lose the structural strength, soften deformation and collapse at high temperature, usually expressed by the load softening temperature;

The volume is stable at high temperatures, and the kiln masonry or pouring body will not crack due to excessive expansion of the product, or cracks due to excessive shrinkage, which reduces the service life. It is usually measured by the coefficient of linear expansion and the shrinkage (or expansion) after reheating;

Refractory materials are greatly affected by the operating conditions of the kiln. Rapid changes in temperature and uneven heating make the furnace easily damaged. Therefore, it is required to have a certain degree of thermal shock resistance;

Refractory materials are often subjected to the chemical action of liquid melt, gaseous or solid substances during use, causing the products to be corroded and damaged. Therefore, products are required to have a certain resistance to erosion.

In the course of use, refractory materials are often abraded by high-temperature and high-speed flowing flames and smoke, erosion by liquid metal and molten slag, and impact and abrasion by metals and other materials. Therefore, it is required to have sufficient strength and wear resistance.

The quality of refractory materials is a key factor in determining the service life and efficiency of the kiln. Therefore, it is very important to choose reasonable quality and guaranteed refractory materials for the kiln. I hope everyone must choose a regular refractory material manufacturer when choosing refractory materials. Zhengzhou Rongsheng Refractory Co., Ltd. has established a factory for nearly 20 years and has been committed to the research and development, and production of refractory materials. Welcome customers to visit and inspect at any time!

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