Abstract

The tamponable cold hearth mass refractory material is a mixture of high purity Fused Magnesia particles with sintered sand particles of magnesium, calcium, iron that is installed in bulk at the bottom of the melting furnace tank. This work presents the results of the study of representative samples of sole masses from different manufacturers, which presented varied performances in the plant. For its characterization, qualitative chemical microreactivity tests were carried out to determine the presence of carbonates in the refractory since their presence in this type of materials is unfavorable. In addition, a combination of techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetry ( TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and the microscopic techniques of Optical Microscopy (OM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive microanalyzer (EDX). A correlation was observed between the performance of the different types of screed masses and the microstructural observations obtained by MO and SEM. The proportions of the sinter and fused magnesia, the morphological aspects of the particles and details of the unions of the sinter particles were revealed, as well as their elemental chemical composition, the presence of hydrated compounds, carbonates present and sintering temperature were also detected. All of this allows us to predict the sintering behavior of a sole mass when it is subjected to working temperature and therefore estimate the quality of performance in the melting furnaces of the SIDOR electric billet steelworks.