R E F R A C T O R I E S IN S E R V I C E

DESTRUCTIVE PROCESSES OF PERICLASE GRAINS IN

FETTLING BACK WALLS OF OPEN-HEARTH FURNACES*

(UDC 666. 923.4.669. 183.41)

M. M. Dvorkind, E. K. Kosolapov, and A. S. Freidenberg

Eastern Institute of Refractories
Translated from Ogneupory, No. 5,
pp. 34-38, May, 1966

The w e a r of the r e f r a c t o r i e s in the slag belt of o p e n - h e a r t h furnaces during the melting of e l e c t r i c a l

and engineering steel with a high content of silica in the slags (Table 1) o c c u r s s e v e r a l times f a s t e r than in
in the bath sections not in contact with slag. This substantially complicates the s e r v i c e of the slag belt of
the lining, the fettling of which is done mainly in the period of metal discharge f r o m the furnace.
The m e a s u r e m e n t s of the residual thickness of the lining of the backwalls of the furnace showed that
during the f i r s t 150-180 heats 50-70% of the s t r u c t u r e was eroded.
Investigations were done into the cause of the destruction of the grains of p e r i c l a s e in the fettling
following the reaction with the slags of t r a n s f o r m e r and dynamo steels, samples were taken f r o m the
fettled p a r t s of the slag belt in the back walls during cold r e p a i r s of the open-hearth furnaces at the Verkh-
I s e t s k steel factory.
The samples of f e r r o u s metal with a metallic shine contained a large number of c o a r s e pores; there
w e r e no separate g r a i n s of magnesite in the samples.
The working l a y e r during operation was badly eroded by the fusible components of the slag which
s h a r p l y reduced the content of m a g n e s i a and led to the formation in the working layer of a large amount of
fusible bond (up to 40%).
M i c r o s c o p i c investigation ~ of the samples taken from the slag belt lining before s e r v i c e showed that
the back wall fettled with f i n e - g r a i n powder and preheating and slagging of the working l a y e r with rolled
s i n t e r consists of c o a r s e a g g r e g a t e s of p e r i c l a s e impregnated with iron oxides (FeO and Fe203) and to a
large degree r e c r y s t a l l i z e d .
The region between the a g g r e g a t e s of p e r i c l a s e is filled with finer a g g r e g a t e s of p e r i c l a s e and iron
oxides with the formation of spinel, probably of a magno-mag~etic composition. Large numbers of differ-
ent shaped pores and thermal cracks were noted (Fig. i).
During service, upon impregnation of the lining of the back wall with reagents of the melt, corrosion
of the grains of periclase occurs at first on the cleavage planes, and then on the periphery of the grains
with change in the structure of the grains of periclase themselves (Fig. 2 a and b). The working and sub-
sequent zone of the samples consist of rounded grains of periclase measuring from 0.03 to 0.2 ram, the
gaps between which are filled with silicates.
Approaching the working surface, the corrosion by silicates gradually embraced the separate grains
of perielase completely (see Fig. 2a).
The aggregates of rounded crystals ofpericlase are loeated in a silicate bond. We also encountered
sections in which the boundaries of the separate grains of perielase tended to fuse together (see Fig. 2b).
The grains of perielase have a high reflective capacity as a result of the strong impregnation by iron oxides.

* The following w o r k e r s took p a r t in the work. G. T. Til'k, N. I. Antropov, G. V. Chernoskutov,

R. V. Krivonosova, M. A. Levanto, A. B. Dokshitskii, Yu. P. Gilev, V. G. Chekhonin, V.I. Dresvyankin.
C a r r i e d out by T. N. Kudryavtseva.

288
 TABLE 29 ChemicM Composition of Fettled Part of the Back Wall

Content
Z~one
SiOz A.I~03 Cr~_O~ F%Os FeO CaO Mi~O total

oi :~ 1
Working. . . . . . . . . ', 30 10.75 ] 1.84 0,87 4.61 24.85 27.45 25.49 3.98 99.85
Adjacent to working 33 4.19] 2.29 0.81 2.09 11.78 8.13 58.28 2.19 99.19
ZRZ~R~R

)
~9
q)

Fig. 1,Microstructure of zone with

9 i increased content of iron oxides:
P:
r ~ N o ~ O ~ O
i) reerystallizedpericlase; 2) spi-
nel; 3) pores; 4) thermal cracks.•
0D
70 reflected light.

5
The silicates inthe working zone of the lining in the slag belt
(25-40%) consist mainly of dicalcium silicate in the form of rounded
5o grains, measuring from 0.02-0.1 mm and a small amount of glass
(/9
(see Fig. 2a).
: i
O
ei Both zones of the sample are porous (pore s i z e s from 0.06 to
+a El
,,-4 4 mm), intersected by m i c r o c r a c k s and differing only by the fact that
O
in the zone next tothe working zone the grains of p e r i e l a s e are dis-
O
tributed m o r e uniformly 9
~D
Chemical and mineralogical investigation of the samples of the
~9
9o N~a working and adjacent zones in the back wall confirm that in the pro-
c e s s of s e r v i c e in the slag belt region, under the action of reagents
in the melt, we note changes in the structure of the fettled part of the
back wall. The perielase in the working zone, as a result of solution
in the bond. is present in the form of fine, well-distributed grains,
which upon reaction by the melt reagents, and at high temperatures
(1600-1700~ are e a s i l y fused and are eroded by the slag metal, and
henee pass into the slag. The wear of the r e f r a c t o r i e s in the slag
belt o c c u r s 3-5 times m o r e quickly than in the upper part of the baek
wall.

With the aim of selecting the most rational eomposition for powdeIs
used for fettling and restoring the back walls we tested s e v e r a l fettling
materials during 25 c y c l e s spread over the bottom repairs (Table 3).

289
 The m a t e r i a l s w e r e used during running r e p a i r s and once
p e r day during fettling of the furnace (during operation), and in
the r e m a i n i n g c a s e s fettling was done with r a w dolomite.
Fettling of the back wall was done with a b e l t - t y p e m a -
chine during r e p a i r s to the hearth with p a r t i a l feed of fuel into
the furnace, and during running r e p a i r s working with full feed
of fuel.
During r e s t o r a t i o n of the back wall using dry s t a n d a r d
powders such as "pure" g r a d e s and also in a m i x t u r e with other
m a t e r i a l s , we noted that these tended to fractionate. P a r t s of
the powders (the fine fractions) w e r e c a r r i e d away by the flue
g a s e s into the s l a g g e r s , and s o m e of the c o a r s e grains rolled on
to the hearth, which led to an i n c r e a s e in the consumption of
powder and also in the t i m e spent in r e s t o r i n g the back wall.
F u r t h e r m o r e , fractionation of the powder gave r i s e to i r -
r e g u l a r w e a r of the working l a y e r on the back wall.
E x p e r i e n c e in steel plants showed that with the use for
hearth r e s t o r a t i o n of dry, f i n e l y - g r a i n e d m a g n e s i t e p o w d e r s ,
r e m o v a l of dust-like f r a c t i o n s is much g r e a t e r than with the
use of s t a n d a r d powders. The m e a n content of MgO in the
m e l t dust f r o m the a i r c h e c k e r s i n c r e a s e d f r o m 6.36 to 11.3%
[1]. T h e r e f o r e , in o r d e r to avoid loss of dust f r a c t i o n s during the
fettling of the f u r n a c e , the powder is u n i f o r m l y m o i s t e n e d during
grinding. As a r e s u l t of this, r e m o v a l of powder in the s l a g g e r s
is p r a c t i c a l l y excluded.
Investigation showed (see Table 3) that the g r e a t e s t r e s i s -
Fig.2. Mierostructure of fettled part tance is p o s s e s s e d by the working l a y e r of the back wall r e -
of back wall; a) working zone; b) ar- p a i r e d with fine-grained, m o i s t e n e d m a g n e s i t e powder. Slightly
rangement of periclase in the bond; lower r e s i s t a n c e was shown by fettling with a m i x t u r e of fine-
i) periclase; 2) dicalcium silicate; grained powder with 20-25% ground waste products m a d e f r o m
3) calcium ferrite. • 70 reflected MKhS and a m i x t u r e of standard m e t a l l u r g i c a l powders with
light. f i n e - g r a i n e d powders in the ratio 1:1. Owing to the r e m o v a l of
the fine f r a c t i o n s in the s l a g g e r s the consumption of n o n - m o i s t -
ened powders was 1.2-1.3 t i m e s g r e a t e r than for m o i s t e n e d
fine-grain powder.
The lowest resistance in the working layer of the back wall was noted with the use of a mixture of
magnesite powder MPM with magnesite-chromite mixture in a ratio of i:i, which is explained by the frac-
tionation of the powder and the formation of a working layer with a low density.
During the melting process highly siliceous slags penetrate to a greater depth in the working layer
and dissolve the grains of periclase and chromite [2]. Furthermore, during melting we get some reduction
of the chromite from the fettling, and the conversion of it into metal and slag. The rate of reduction of the
chromium is about 0.018~ h [3].
The active destruction of the grains of chromite by silicates and reduction of the chrome is explained
by the somewhat lower resistance of the working layer in the back wall made from a mixture of finely
grained magnesite powder containing 20-25% ground waste articles made from the composition MKhS.
The life of the back wall with fettling made from finely-grained magnesite powder is on average 4-5
melts longer than the life of the back walls made with a fettling from standard powders. Under these con-
ditions the consumption of finely grained powder for restoring the back wall during running repairs was
2.5-3.0 tons against 4-5 tons with the use of coarse-grained standard powders.
As a result of the increase in the life of the back walls on account of restoring them during running
repairs and with daily fettling using fine grained magnesite powder, the consumption (per ton of steel) of
raw dolomite dropped from 23.9 to 13.8 kg, and for magnesite powder from 13.8 to 12.1 kg.

290
 TABLE 3. Composition ofFettling Powders forRestoring The Fettled Part of the Back Wall and the Life during Inter-
mediate Period

Sizegrading,%, Chemical composition, %

Number ~I lifeinhea~_.~
of inter-
Fettling powder
I
~epair AlcOa Cr,~O~ l-e~()~ CaO MgO ~
o
S102
iperiods
[observed A ~ 7 v ,,

Standard powder MPK or MPM plus

fine grained powder (1:1) moistened
with water to 4 - 5 % . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.52 9.5 47A8 22,72 12 44 2.88 0.91 4.8! 3.63 86,70 1,0 17 20

Fine-grained magnesite powder moist-

ened with water during grinding to
0,77 7,61 51,26 37 26 21 4 2.44 0.61 1,3: 3.22 90,26 1,1 19 22
3--4% 9 9 9 .................
Finely-grained
magnesite
powderin
mixture with 2 0 - 2 5 % ground waste
products made from MKS . . . . ' . . . . 2.7 0.0 51,4 38,2 17,!)5 3,16 1.15 4,67 3,0: 3,9 83,4t 0,86 18 20

Fine-grained magnesite powder w i t h .

15-20~ rolled clinker (on 1 0 0 % ) . . . 15,0 7.0 41.65 26.8 10.99 2.72 2.28 29.24 1.48 63.66 0,49 14 18

Magnesite powder lvlPlvl plus magnesite

chromite mixture (1:1) . . . . . . . . . . 15.37 6.3~ 34.0 44,27 33.57 4,44 2.55 17,82 9,4 1,70 62.30 1..72 14 16 15

r
 CONCLUSIONS
During the first melting the working layer of the lining in the back wall is impregnated with iron
oxides, calcium, silicon, etc. which leads to a reduction in the content of MgO in the working layer to 25%,
and the formation of up to 40% fusible silicates in the bond. This leads to solution of the periclase grains
with the formation of weak structures (an island-like character). The refractoriness of the working sur-
face of the lining in the back wall drops to 1500-1550 ~ The split-up grains of perielase are easily melted
and eroded by the slag and metal and pass into the slag melts.
The life of the lining of the back wall increases with the use of fine-grained magnesite powder moist-
ened by 3-4% water~ With this the dust removal into the checkers of the regenerators is reduced.

LITERATURE CITED
1. Zh. A. Vydrina et al., Stal' No. 11(1964).
2. M. N. Kaibicheva, Ogneupory, No. 12(1964).
3. N. E. Vlasov et al., Ogneupory, No. 10 (1965).

292