The cast house has increasingly become an important metal production unit in the integrated aluminium smelters. The increased output of metal from the cast house furnaces has led to increased strain on the refractory lining materials. The attack and infiltration by molten aluminium metal during operation, resulting in chemical conversion of and mechanical stresses in the lining promoting increased energy consumption and reduced lining lifetime of the furnaces. The attack of molten aluminium metal is governed by molten metal properties, refractory properties and by the mineralogy of the formed solid and liquid phases in the deteriorated lining. In this paper, some basic studies of the interaction between molten aluminium and refractory materials are presented, by means of thermodynamics and laboratory investigations. The laboratory studies are performed on different types refractory raw material minerals, and have been used to assess the influence of reaction kinetics in addition to thermodynamics. The observed extent of the aluminium attack is linked to chemical and mineralogical composition, as well as the physical properties of the refractory constituents. Thermodynamics and laboratory investigations have demonstrated that aluminium metal is capable of reducing more thermodynamically stable oxides through the formation of inter-metallic species.
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