Development of a Thermoplastic Magnesia Carbon Brick ——“A Cold Process Flexible System”

Conventional resin bonded MgO-C bricks, which are manufactured via cold mixing process, harden and attain brittleness during carbonization of resin due to the formation of isotropic glassy carbon. They do not exhibit thermo-plasticity, which can facilitate the release of huge amount of stresses generated during preheating or in operation. On the contrary, pitch bonded MgO-C bricks, show better pyro-plasticity due to formation of an anisotropic and graphitized coke structure during carbonization of pitch. Hence, pitch bonded bricks show a superior structural spalling resistance in comparison to resin-bonded bricks. One of the drawbacks of pitch-bonded bricks is that the manufacturing requires a hot mixing process and hot pressing facility. This paper describes how a combination of above two processes was optimized to make a MgO-C brick via cold process. These bricks exhibit a low Modulus of Elasticity and thereby facilitate release of stresses during operation. Normal coal tar pitch is considered as an environmental hazard due to the presence of polyaromatic hydrocarbons like benzopyrene B \ P. So, a special binder with a low B\P was selected, which is eco-friendly in nature. Such bricks were made in our plant in China and supplied to an integrated steel plant in Europe for their ladle. The bricks supplied have given encouraging life.