Introduction

Abstract

The importance of refractory materials to the world has always been prevalent as they support the production of materials and the processes that sustain our way of life. These materials may be called upon to act as insulation and/or containment as they form vessel linings in high temperature and corrosive environments and, thus, must possess properties suitable for exposure to extreme environments. Indeed, it would be difficult to identify an industrial process that does not use refractory materials in one aspect or another. These materials must not only be capable of performing these tasks at elevated temperatures, but may also be called upon to bear mechanical loads and transfer heat. As such, refractories are a vital class of materials for the sustainability of the world industrial economy related to the manufacturing of the products that we rely on in our modern world. As stated in its mission statement, the 17th Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR 2021) was organized to contribute to the progress and exchange of industrial knowledge and technologies concerning refractories with the participation of refractory organizations from around the world collaborating in this biennial conference. The theme of the conference is “Refractories as a Global Industry.” The articles included in this focused issue on refractories come from the wider collection of articles presented at the conference and included in the conference proceedings. This year's conference, like those of the past, aimed to address many of the aspects prevalent in refractory technology today and to bring together industrial and academic interests related to refractory production, testing, characterization, application, and education. These themes were covered in the various symposia of the conference with some of those themes being covered by the articles to follow. Finally, I would like to thank the US and International UNITECR Advisory Committees and the technical program committee for the 17th UNITECR without whose efforts this collection of articles would not have been possible. The individuals from these groups were instrumental in the organizing and recruiting of articles for the various symposia and in the technical editing of the articles found to follow.