Refractories, Structure and Properties of
Abstract
The definition of "refractory" employed as an adjective is variously applied; to people, it means obstinate or unmanageable, and to things such as ores, it means hard to reduce or to fuse. This latter usage is correct for refractory ceramic materials, which possess the key characteristic of refractoriness, i.e., they are difficult to fuse. Refractory ceramics are inorganic chemical substances, single or polyphase in nature, which are processed at high temperature and/or are intended for high-temperature applications. They are employed wherever a process involves treatment or exposure at elevated temperatures, e.g., the smelting of metals, the sintering of ceramics, the melting of glass, the processing of hydrocarbons and other chemicals, etc.
- Publication:
-
Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and Technology
- Pub Date:
- 2001
- DOI:
- 10.1016/B0-08-043152-6/01452-2
- Bibcode:
- 2001emst.book.8079M