Refractory Corrosion Mechanisms in a Novel High Carbon Ferromanganese Production Furnace

The present paper presents the refractory design for a novel HCFeMn smelting furnace that, other than standard submerged arc furnaces, allows the processing of fine ores. A combination of basic and non-basic materials, comprising bricks, castables and ramming was chosen, under consideration of the unique furnace design and process conditions. Post-mortem investigations on refractory samples from the different furnace zones were carried out and provided information about the main wear mechanism. Additionally, investigations of the process slag and metal were carried out both practically and theoretically using thermodynamic calculations, to better understand the corrosion phenomena observed in the post mortem samples.