The Use of a Corundum Mixture for the Lining of Channel-Type Iron-Soaking Induction Furnaces

The KSVKh-1 refractory mixture (available from the REIN JSC) was tested as a material for the lining of an LFR 30/CSH channel-type induction mixer under industrial conditions at the AMO ZIL automobile plant. The mixture was used to prepare the lining for the bath and nozzles by a castable technology; it showed a high resistance to wear and good service characteristics for a period of one year at least.     

Using Periclase-Carbon Converter Linings at the Magnitogorskii Iron-And-Steel Works (MISW) Joint-Stock Co.

Results of a repair-and-maintenance program aimed at increasing the durability of the converter lining in an oxygen converter shop at the MISW JSC are reported. The program includes a single-round placement of the lining, the use of high-resistance PUPK-1-grade refractory components in high-wear zones, advanced methods for lining maintenance, development of high-resistance mixtures and taphole blocks, improvement of the converter process parameters, and introduction of advanced methods for lining wear monitoring.     

Experience Gained in the Service of a Zonal Lining for Converters at the Magnitogorskii Iron-and-Steel Works Joint-Stock Company

A brief report on the execution of a step of a program on improving durability of the refractory converter lining at the MISW JSC in 2001 is presented. The use of refractory components PUPK-1 (available from Kombinat Magnezit) and refractory components available from Meierton Co. in various campaigns is discussed.     

The Steelmaking Ladle — Ways Towards Saving Heat

Using a program developed at the NLISW JSC, heat losses through the wall of a steel-teeming ladle for different types of refractory materials and lining design and the surface temperature of the ladle jacket are calculated. It is shown, both computationally and experimentally, that using efficient heat insulators for the wall lining of steel ladle, the liquid-metal outlet temperature in the converter can be decreased by 10 – 15°C.     

Improving the Refractory Lining Durability of Pyrometallurgical Plants in Service at the Svyatogor Joint-Stock Co.

Factors responsible for the failure of the refractory brick lining of pyrometallurgical plants in service at the Svyatogor JSC are considered, of which the major ones are: corrosion due to the attack from high-iron silicon-containing slag, infiltration of molten mass causing fracture during the heat-and-cool thermal cycling, and mechanical impact. Measures that allowed the refractory consumption rate to be reduced to 0.035 tons per ton of blister copper are described.     

Carbon-Based Refractories for the Lining of Blast Furnaces

General requirements placed on the operating properties of advanced carbon-based refractory materials intended for the lining of blast furnaces are formulated and technological routes for their achievement are outlined. Performance characteristics of refractory furnace blocks available from the ChEP JSC are given, their operational stability is characterized, and recommendations for use are proposed.     

Composition and Fabrication of Magnesia Briquettes from Refractory Scrap for Repairing the Lining of Oxygen Converters

A technology for fabrication of refractory briquettes from spent periclase and periclase-carbon materials salvaged from decommissioned steel ladles has been developed. The briquettes can be used as a patching material to repair the worn refractory lining in oxygen converters. Tests of the patching briquettes were conducted at the MISW JSC with satisfactory results.__________Translated from Novye Ogneupory, No. 1, pp. 17 – 19, January, 2005.     

Improving Lining Resistance Using High-Magnesia Fluxes in the Converter Steelmaking Process

Tests carried out at the Severstal Joint-Stock Co. and Magnitogorskii Iron-and-Steel Works JSC showed that a lime-magnesia flux containing 30 – 35% MgO used in the converter steelmaking process produced a favorable effect on the refractory lining resistance. Compositions for high-magnesia granules (50 – 65% MgO) were developed, their properties characterized, and the rate of solution in the slag melt was determined. Using these granules in the converter process makes it possible to increase the service life of periclase-carbon refractories for converter linings.     

Practice of application of refractory concrete in industrial furnaces

The Teploograzhdenie Research-and-Production Company has developed refractory concretes with service temperature of 1150–1650°C which have been successfully used as car bottom lining in tunnel furnaces, block lining of the hearth and lower parts of thermal furnace walls (together with the Termostal’ JSC), lining of roof panels of a continuous furnace, and burner stones. __________ Translated from Novye Ogneupory, No. 11, pp. 18–19, November, 2006.     

Nanomechanical and surface frictional characteristics of a copolymer based on benzoyl-1,4-phenylene and 1,3-phenylene

Surface mechanical and tribological properties of a copolymer based on benzoyl-1,4-phenylene and 1,3-phenylene were evaluated using nanoprobe investigation techniques and compared to the properties obtained at the macroscale. These copolymers are commonly referred to as self-reinforced polymers (SRPs) because of their intrinsic high strength and modulus without addition of a reinforcing agent. Specimens were prepared by spin casting, solvent casting, and compression molding. Surface mechanical properties and film thickness were measured by nanoindentation and scratching techniques. Friction properties were found using lateral force microscopy (LFM), and surface topography was imaged by tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). Macroscale friction testing revealed a kinetic coefficient of friction of 0.08 for SRP, approaching that of Teflon. Similarly low relative friction coefficients were obtained in nanoprobe measurements. Nanoindentation of SRP, polycarbonate (PC), and polyetherimide (PEI) demonstrated superior surface hardness and modulus of SRP copolymer thin films.     

Production and Service of High-Alumina Castables. 2. Properties and Service of Vibration-Placed Castables Based on Bauxite-Modified Highly Concentrated Ceramic Binding Suspensions (HCBS) For Use in Blast-Furnace Runners

The advantages of replacing of rammed castables by vibration-placed castables as the material for fabricating the lining of blast-furnace runners are considered. Batches of environmentally safe vibration-placed castables commercially available from Dinur JSC bauxite-based HCBSs, modified with finely disperse quartz glass, are used as the binder. The castables were tested at the Nizhny Tagil Metal-and-Steel Works. Endurance of the castable under operating conditions of the main runner is 140 thousand tons of iron (to first repair) and greater than 1 million tons (to overhall). The overall consumption rate of the castable is 0.25 – 0.35 kg/ton iron and 0.10 – 0.15 kg/ton iron (in routine repair conditions), which is substantially higher in comparison with the traditionally used rammed castables. At present, 80% of the total number of operating blast-furnace runners at the NTMSW have a lining made of vibration-placed castables.     

Advanced periclaselime powders for converter refractories

Kombinat Magnezit JSC has developed a process for manufacturing densely sintered large-grain periclase-lime powders that are resistant to hydration due to formation of enclosing films on the surface of the grains. A performance test of pitch-impregnated periclase-lime converter refractories at the Krivorozhstal’ Works has shown their advantages over dolomite-periclase refractories. The service life of a converter lining produced from the test powders was increased from 690 to 946 heats.     

Ladle service under the conditions of vacuum-oxygen decarburization

The Izhstal plant has created a technology for treating corrosion-resistant steel by the method of VOD in a 30-ton ladle. The lining of the ladle is made of periclase-chromite refractories produced by the Magnezit Works JSC. The effect of the process parameters and lining patterns on the endurance of the ladle was studied in development of the process. The main factors determining the wear of the functional layer of the lining are the density of its joints, the composition of the slag of the refining period, the intensity of the mixing, and the thermal regime of the ladle between the heats. The pattern of the lining has been improved by reinforcing the slag line. The mixing regimes and the composition of the killing mixture have been improved where the consumption of lime and the proportion of aluminum to silicon are concerned. These measures have increased the endurance of the ladles by a factor of 2.2 and that of the refractory roofs by a factor of 2.5. Translated from Ogneupory i Tekhnicheskaya Keramika, No. 5, pp. 41–43, May, 2000.     

Tests of refractory products of the magnohrom company at the novolipetsk metallurgical works JSC

The largest Yugoslavian producer of refractory materials Magnohrom — Kraljevo Company developed a program for manufacturing periclase-carbon products with an additive of molten periclase, corundum, and antioxidants in the early 1990s. Full-scale tests at the NLMK JSC (Novolipetsk Metallurgical Works) and the Izhorskie Zavody JSC have shown that the endurance of refractory products of Magnohrom — Kraljevo Company are at the level provided by the leader of European refractory production RADEX.     

Unfired periclase-carbon refractories on a phenol binder

Periclase-carbon refractories on a phenol-formaldehyde binder developed in a laboratory are described. The pilot batch produced by the Magnezit JSC exhibited high properties. When tested in the lining of arc steel-melting furnaces the refractories had a twice as high service life as that of fired periclase articles. Deep blasting of tanks of open-hearth furnaces revealed the same endurance as that of high-quality fired articles fabricated from a molten material.     

Articles of quartz ceramics used in casting nonferrous metals

The Pervouralskii Dinas Plant JSC has begun the production of quartz ceramics for installations for semicontinnuous casting of preforms of copper and copper-bearing alloys. Industrial tests of an experimental batch of articles (bushings, stoppers, rods, etc.) conducted in the second half of 1996 have shown that the durability of the quartz articles exceeds that of graphite articles conventionally used by a factor of 1.5–2. Translated from Ogneupory i Tekhnicheskaya Keramika, No. 7, pp. 32–33, July, 1997.     

Periclase-Carbon Components for Use in the Refractory Lining of the Steel-Tapping Channel of a 370-Ton Converter

Tests of periclase-carbon blocks for the converter's steel-tapping channel available from the Kombinat Magnezit JSC were carried out in an oxygen-converter shop at the Magnitogorskii Metal-and-Steel Works JSC. The new refractory materials are shown to have a higher endurance as compared to the conventional periclase blocks, which made it possible to increase the operational efficiency of converters.     

Experience of using mixture KSVKh-1 in induction furnaces at the AMO ZIL Works

The service results of submerged-resistor induction furnaces for pig iron exposure of the vertical (capacity 30 tons) and horizontal (capacity 60 tons) types at the AMO ZIL Works are described. The furnace lining is made of KSVKh-1 corundum mixture by casting. The lining is found to be reliable in service, and its resistance is more than two times higher than that of mixture MK-90. __________ Translated from Novye Ogneupory, No. 5, pp. 13–14, May, 2007.     

Pilot Production of Refractory Articles Using Clays of Provenance from the Vladimirovskoe Deposit

The characteristics of a pilot batch of fireclay engineering components (for siphon steel casting, for lining and standard brickwork) fabricated at the Borovichi Refractory Plant using fireclays of provenance from the Vladimirovskoe deposit (VD) are reported. The articles fabricated conform to standard specifications. The VD clays are recommended for use as a low-sintering and plasticizing binding component for mixtures in the production of fireclay articles.     

Polypropylene fibers and threads on the world and Russian markets

In 2009 polypropylene (PP) fibers comprised 8.2% of all textile raw material produced worldwide, which constituted 5.8 · 10⁶ t. Western Europe, USA, and China were the leading PP fiber manufacturers. Spandex and meltblown production is growing most rapidly; in 2010 they comprised 37.3% of all raw material used for nonwoven materials. By 2015 this fraction will exceed 40%, even 60% considering that this material is used in fiber form. In Russia PP based spanbond production is growing just as rapidly. It is estimated that by 2011 the total capacity of 13 manufacturers of this material will be slightly below 70000 t/yr. The leading producers are Polimatiz JSC (Alabuga), Orton JSC (Kemerovo), Khimvolokno JSC (Shchekino), and others. Unfortunately, unique equipment having no analogs either in Russia or Europe for producing PP spanbond for geotextiles has been lying as a dead weight at Poliéf JSC (Bashkortostan) for more than 20 years.