refractory

When selecting refractories for regenerator chambers serving natural gas fired furnaces producing soda lime glass, both the functions of the refractories and the operating conditions within the checkers should be taken into consideration.

As heat exchangers, checkers should have high thermal capacity and thermal conductivity. Basic refractories and fused cast refractories are the best solution.

However, refractory selection also depends on the operating conditions, while the operating conditions depend on the position. According to the temperature, checkers can be divided into four zones: Top zone (from the first row to 1,350℃), Mid zone (from 1,350℃ to 1,000℃), Condensation zone (from 1,000℃ to 700℃) and Lower zone (from 700℃ to rider arches).

Silica bricks with identical chemical composition can have differing mineralogical compositions which can cause quite different behavior during use. Therefore, it is not always sufficient to evaluate silica bricks only by their chemical composition. It is essential to also consider the degree of transformation and the thermal expansion behavior of the bricks.

Silica brick contains cristobalite, tridymite and some residual quartz. The crystal phases each have a high and low temperature forms which can transform reversibly. The crystal structure of the individual SiO2 crystal phase can differ widely. This is of great importance during heating and cooling because of the change in the volume.