refractory

The need of the glass manufacturers to maintain and improve the quality of glass and expand the service life of the glass furnace and the impact and influence of the oxygen-fuel combustion technology, promote the improvement of refractories and development of the new refractories.

Fused cast alumina block has been widely used in the crown of the oxygen-fuel furnace, especially when manufacturing high quality glass. Before the application of the oxygen-fuel combustion technology, only β alumina block is used in the superstructure of the melting furnace. Now both β fused cast alumina block and α-β fused cast alumina block can be used in the crown of the oxygen-fuel furnace for producing TV glass, float glass and borosilicate glass.

The quality of fused cast AZS block is related to many factors such as the chemical composition of raw materials, the melting process, the casting process and the annealing process. One of the main quality problems of the fused cast AZS block is cracking.

Fused cast AZS block is mainly composed of baddeleyite, corundum, and a small amount of mullite, glass phase and pores. When the Al2O3 content of the raw materials exceeds 30%, the raw materials is difficult to melt and the cracking rate will increase. So before feeding the raw materials into the furnaces, the Al2O3 content must be measured to ensure it does not exceed 30%.

Alumina (Al2O3) refractories are the part of alumina- silica group of refractories. They differs from fireclay refractories in term of Al2O3 content and normally have Al2O3 content of more than 45 %. The raw material base for these refractories are different than the fire clay bricks.

As the Al2O3 content is increased, the melting point of the refractory increases to a maximum of 2054℃ which is the melting point of pure corundum. Refractoriness increases with the increase in the Al2O3 content. The only stable compound in the system is mullite, which has a defective space lattice and decomposes into corundum and liquid phase at around 1840℃.

The service life of the glass furnace, energy efficiency and the quality of glass is mainly up to refractory materials. The following practices can be performed in order to select the right refractory materials and ensure longer operating life of the glass furnace.

Consistent quality