Almatis GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany):

Buhr A., Dr., Global Technical Director Refractories, e-mail: andus.buhr@almatis.com

AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke (Dillingen, Germany):
Bruckhaus R., Dr. Eng., General Manager Steel Plant

VDEh Steel Institute (Düsseldorf, Germany):
Fandrich R., Dr. Eng., Manager Steelworks Technology

Forschungsgemeinschaft Feuerfest e. V. (Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany):
Dannert Ch., Dr., Head of Research and Development

Regular improvement of steelmaking technology can be considered as the most important motivation in the field of designing and producing of new improved refractories. The tendencies of the development of the processes of secondary metallurgy, as well as innovations allowing the refractory industry to meet the increased requirements of up-to-date steelmaking processes are examined and discussed in this article. The effect of refractories on quality of molten steel and economical parameters of steelmaking processes are illustrated on the examples. Studying of the economical parameters of refractories should take into account not only direct, but also indirect operation expenses connected with refractories. These expenses (in addition to expenses for refractories purchase and lining mounting) include the following items: production losses connected with temporary downtime of ladles owing to different reasons, e.g. lining replacement or unexpected accident. These reasons have the influence on steel quality, energy losses, output, environment contamination, labour protection etc. It is concluded that operation expenses connected with refractories are comparative with direct expenses for them, but simple saving via purchasing cheap refractories of low quality finalizes often more expensive. Flexibility of the modern steelmaking process requires strict meeting the quality requirements of refractories.

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