| With an ever increasing demand for the production of
steel all the world over, the metallurgists and the refractories
technologists are confronted with the problem
of increasing the steel output from the existing installed
capacities of the furnaces or installation of new furnaces
capable of increased output. Even though it was realised
that faster driving rates and higher operating temperatures
could increase the steel output, the refractory
lining posed a limiting factor. For over 15 years, the
refractor;es engineers and metallurgists have worked in
close collaboration on this problem, with the result that
today, we have all basic open hearth furnaces which
could be taken to higher operating temperatures and
with low melting times. Even though the all basic open
hearth practice is now firmly established, its development
took a considerable time of experimentation. For
example, it was reported as early as in 1957 that a basic
roof at one of the steel works gave 1600 heats1 while
similar bricks in another work gave variable performance.•
Other factors such as furnace design and construction
and the mode of operation were all involved in
the durability of given types of roof-brick. Despite these
set-backs, steady progress has been made and to-day,
the all basic open-hearth is firmly established in
India. This has been made possible only by continuous
research on the development and performance of chromemagnesite
bricks. |
