HIGHLY CONCENTRATED CERAMIC BINDING SUSPENSIONS (HCBS) AND CERAMIC CASTABLES. STAGES IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Precisely 25 years ago, in the journal Ogneupory (February, 1978), our paper “Fundamentals of ceramic castable technology” was published [1]. Earlier, the principles outlined in that paper were reported and discussed at All-Union conferences held in 1976 in Sverdlovsk and Leningrad. Dating back to 1968, the first data on highly concentrated binding suspensions based on quartz glass were reported in [2, 3]. The technology of ceramic castables is precisely based on the use of ceramic binding suspensions. In 1969 [4], a method for preparation of refractory castables of granular structure using ceramic binding suspensions was reported. A survey of world trends in the development, production, and application of new refractory materials [5 – 8] shows that, viewed in this light, the papers [1 – 4] were pioneering in the field. In particular, these papers provided data, previously unreported, on the preparation of ultra-low-cement and zero-cement refractory castables, that is, refractory materials that at present have a potential for wide applications [6, 7]. In this paper, we discuss, in a historical aspect, priorities and achievements in the field of materials based on highly concentrated ceramic binding suspensions (HCBS).