FIRECLAY REFRACTORIES IN PYROMETALLURGICAL PROCESSES.

In primary liquid metal production, the temperature of processing and the composition of the slag phase largely determine the selection of the refractories used to line the furnace. The objective of this work was to study the effect of temperature and FeO content on the dissolution rate of a clay refractory. The study of the effect of process temperature was carried out over the temperature range 1100 degree -1400 degree C at 50 degree C intervals. The effect of slag composition was next studied at 1300 degree C, the range of slag compositions being 60-80 wt. % iron oxide at 5% intervals in the iron oxide-silica system. The outcome of the work was to show that for the iron oxide-silica compositions studied a high-duty fireclay refractory can be used to contain the melts if the temperature of the process is maintained below 1300 degree C and when the slag composition is less than the orthosilicate composition (2FeO. SiO//2).