Unleashing ceramic potential through root cause analysis, plus more inside March 2024 ACerS Bulletin
The March 2024 issue of the ACerS Bulletin—featuring methods and procedures to determine the root cause of material failures and behavior—is now available online. Plus—Zachariasen and the Manhattan Project.
Read MoreGeopolymers are emerging as a promising alternative to cement binders in refractories. In a recent study, researchers in Brazil identified a new geopolymer composition that could serve as a binder in high-temperature alumina castables.
Read MoreThere are many hidden stories of the people who worked on the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the world’s first atomic bombs. In 1990, the late ACerS Fellows Osgood J. Whittemore and Louis R. McCreight published an article uncovering some of this history by describing research conducted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop refractory crucibles for nuclear metals processing.
Read MoreMagnesia carbon bricks are widely used in steelmaking because of their excellent thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties. These bricks can be fabricated using various carbon sources. In a recent paper, researchers at Changwon National University investigated the effects of expanded graphite content on MgO–C bricks.
Read MoreACerS St. Louis Section and Refractory Ceramics Division held the 58th Annual Symposium on Refractories in St. Louis, Mo., March 28–30, 2023. About 220 members of the refractory ceramics community attended the meeting, which focused on the theme of sustainability.
Read MoreAlumina spinel castables play an important role in the steel industry as lining for the ladle sidewalls and bottom. A new review paper published in International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology provides a detailed overview of these castables, including how various parameters affect their properties and performance.
Read MoreThe common way to test alkali resistance of aluminosilicate refractories is based solely on visual observation after exposure to alkali vapor. Allied Mineral Products researchers explored a new procedure that would subject refractories to both visual analysis and formal analytical testing after exposure to alkali slag and vapor.
Read MoreRefractory ceramics are integral to ensuring the smooth operation of numerous essential industries, and researchers are continually investigating new materials and processing techniques to improve refractory performance. Several recent collections curated by ACerS highlights some of the latest research in this field.
Read MoreOriginally scheduled to take place in 2021, the Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories took place March 15–18, 2022, in Chicago, Ill. People from 28 countries gathered to attend the hybrid conference, which featured much discussion of challenges and opportunities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreRecycling and reusing waste materials is one approach the refractories industry is pursuing to improve sustainability. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics have explored the potential of electrodynamic fragmentation to recycle composites, and their recent study looks specifically at the potential of this technique applied to refractory materials.
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