Performance of High Alumina Bricks in Different Furnaces of Steel Plant Practices in India

Abstract

The modern trend is to replace the ordinary fireclay bricks by high alumina lining in order to achieve better performance of the furnaces and kilns. High alumina bricks are finding increased use in different parts of blast furnace, open hearth checkers, soaking pit, reheating furnace, walking beam furnace, rotary hearth furnace, rotary kiln, mixer and continuous casting ladles etc, because of their superiority in respect of refractoriness, increased resistance to chemical attack, resistance to abrasion and thermal shock.In this paper, the use of high alumina bricks in different parts of the furnaces have been dealt with particular reference to (i) specification and (ii) improved performance in comparison to ordinary fireclay bricks. Operational results of the integrated steel plants in India confirm that the lining life of various metallurgical furnaces has improved considerably by using high alumina bricks in place of ordinary fireclay bricks.