Service properties of refractory products

The evaluation of the usability of a refractory product in a defined industrial context is a difficult technical procedure. The characteristics of the material must be known and its effect on the in-service behavior must be evaluated. Acquiring knowledge about the service properties of the material starts with its raw materials in fact, a refractory retains through the very nature of its manufacturing process, the memory of its raw materials. Insofar as the behavior of the refractory is mainly governed by phenomena of corrosion and capillary impregnation, the chemical composition, open porosity (volume and distribution into pore sizes) and microstracture ate essential parameters. The arrangement of the different constituents needs to be taken into account  

We shall remember that the raw materials are considered to be opponents of corrosion, porosity is its progress, the secondary phases are its brakes or accelerators depending on their arrangement, nature and distribution. These characteristics have to be supplemented by thermal and thermomechanical properties, which help to evaluate the resistance of materials to thermomechanical stresses. We will mention as examples  

These properties, which vary with temperature, imply a sustained activity in the field of mechanical testing, taking into account more and more complex stresses and the integration of microstructures. 

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