Cement-Free Refractory Concretes. Part 12-1. Siliceous Composition HCBS and Ceramic Concretes

The main stages of development in the USSR and Russian Federation of technology and production of quartz steel-pouring refractories are considered. In the 1970s-1990s the main manufacturer of these refractories was the Podol’sk Refractory Products Plant (PRPP), and in the last 25 years it is the Pervouralsk Dinas Plant (PDZ, now OAO Dinur). This plant has developed and implemented technology for producing highly concentrated HCBS based on fused quartz produced by itself as a matrix system of ceramic concrete self-spreading mixes. A fundamentally new molding method has been implemented with their use, i.e., centrifugal casting in metal molds. The resulting products with a ceramic concrete structure have reduced porosity (up to 10 – 13 %) and increased service life. For some types of cast steels their durability is no worse than similar corundum-graphite products. Over the entire production period about 90 thousand tons of these refractories have been produced that at current prices is about 14 billion rubles of marketable products. Currently OAO Dinur is not only a monopoly manufacturer of quartz refractories in the Russian Federation, but also for over 30 years the only manufacturer of large quartz casings of furnace rollers for heat treating special grades of sheet steel. Development of quartz ceramic and refractory technology predetermines the birth of a new type of promising ceramic binders, i.e., HCBS as the basis for CFRC-ceramic concretes. Using this technology a whole series of oxide, silicate ceramic, and refractory materials has been created.