The mineralogy, corrosion resistance and properties of six commercial rebonded fused grain magnesitechrome bricks

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 90, No. 1012, 1997

C. Doyle, K. Cushnie, C. Díaz, J. Hrepic, and J. Brennan, J. Roy Gordon Research Laboratory, INCO Limited Sheridan Park, Mississauga, Ontario

In 1991/1992, INCO undertook a successful R&D program aimed at extending the lining lives of the top blown rotary converters (TBRCs) at its Copper Cliff Nickel Refinery (CCNR) and the electric furnace at INMETCO. At the laboratory scale, this effort was divided into three phases. In the first part, mineralogical work was performed on six refractories that were either currently being used to line these vessels or were considered suitable alternatives. In the second part, this mineralogical knowledge was used to help determine the compositions of slags that would not corrode the bricks at the operating temperature (1600°C) of the above furnaces. Finally, several important properties of the six refractories were measured to complete their evaluation as candidate linings. This paper reports the results of all three phases of the laboratory scale R&D work.