Refractory materials play a significant role on the quality and the cost of custom steel fabrication. In effect, there’s an increasing demand for high quality refractories due to the diversification and cleanliness required in producing steel products. The major requirement in steelmaking is the ability to handle high temperatures of 1600℃ or even higher. In particular, it deals with different phases of molten steel, hot gasses and slag. All of them are chemically reactive, that’s why refractories are very crucial in the production of steel. Moreover, the use of top quality refractories at a lower cost is the key to much more efficient custom steel fabrication.
But what really is a refractory material and how does it suffice the critical requirement in manufacturing steel products? By definition, refractories are nonmetallic and inorganic material that have the ability to withstand very high temperature while retaining their physical and chemical properties when coming in contact with molten metals, slag and gases. The materials are produced in a wide range of different properties to suit various processing conditions. These may include incorporation of different varieties of fired, carbon bonded or chemically bonded materials combined in various ways and shapes to accommodate diverse applications.
In custom steel fabrication, they are highly required to reduce heat loss from the reaction chamber and to take the place of metallic vessels to allow the conversion of chemically reactive reactants into the desired products. Thus, in essence, refractory materials should be unaffected by the following conditions:
- High temperature
- Chemical and abrasive action of various phases
- Sudden changes in temperature
- Load at service conditions
More importantly, they should not contaminate the material that they come in contact with. Baseline provides a wide selection of custom steel fabrication services and solutions using only the best-in-class materials to give you all the benefits they bring.