Control of refractory lining wear by using radioisotopes

✍ Scribed by J. Salgado; C. Oliveira; A. Moutinho; C. Silvério

• Book ID: 103920144
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1988
• Weight: 258 KB
• Volume: 39
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0883-2889
• DOI: 10.1016/0883-2889(88)90111-6

✦ Synopsis

The use of radioactive isotopes as tracers provides a means of measuring the refractory wear rate in a converter or blast furnace.

The paper reports on the research carried out for the implementation of this technique in the Portuguese Steelmaking Company (Siderurgia National, EP). Sources of 7.4 x 10' Bq 19*Ir and @Co have been installed in holes made in the refractory bricks at suitable positions. The specific activity of the steel with dissolved sources is lower than 1.5 x lo3 Bq kg-'.

Both radioisotopes prove to be suitable, but lg21r is a better choice. The results also show that the wear rate during a campaign depends on the working conditions and is not constant.

Values between 0.49 and 0,74mm/charge have been measured.