Metallurgical Refractories of the Alumina-Silica System

Refractories are indispensable in high temperature operations/processes without which industrialization is all but impossible. Production and refining of metals, alloys, glass, ceramic wares, castings, and even refining of petroleum cannot be accomplished without furnaces and reactors that are lined with refractories. Many developing nations like Nigeria that wish to change their industrialization policy from import-substitution to resource-based strategy must not continue to depend heavily on imported refractories as lining materials for their furnaces, reactors and power plants. Not when the basic raw materials for the manufacture of refractories abound in such developing countries. This work has shown that the Nigeria parades enormous refractory raw materials, particularly refractory clays. The processing techniques for converting them into valuable industrial materials and products and methods of characterizing them to meet standard property specifications is the subject of this book. It is written to stir policy direction towards the development of local raw materials, especially by developing Nations.Very useful for Metallurgy, Materials Science and Chemical Engineering.