| Title: |
Thermal conductivity of used copper converter bricks |
| Authors: |
Pankka, Iida; Tammela, Joonas; Taskinen, Pekka; Lindberg, Daniel |
| Contributors: |
Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering; Metallurgical Thermodynamics and Modelling; Boliden Kevitsa Mining Oy; Aalto-yliopisto; Aalto University |
| Publisher Information: |
Elsevier |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Aalto University Publication Archive (Aaltodoc) / Aalto-yliopiston julkaisuarkistoa |
| Subject Terms: |
Failure analysis (B); Postmortem analysis; Refractories (E); Wear resistance (C) |
| Description: |
Peirce-Smith converters are commonly used in copper smelting and have a refractory lining of MgO-based bricks. There are multiple possible sources of refractory degradation, one of which is the thermal stress generated during operation. This is thought to be aggravated by the infiltration of metal into the brick structure, which is believed to increase the thermal conductivity of the refractory. In this work, 10 postmortem magnesia-chrome refractory bricks taken from a Peirce-Smith converter in Boliden Harjavalta were studied using laser flash analysis, thermodynamic modeling utilizing FactSage software, and mineralogical observations. Slag interaction was found to have occurred at the hot face of several bricks. Infiltration of metal and matte was found to increase the thermal conductivity of the brick, but the difference between samples with and without metal/matte infiltration was not as significant as expected. The thermal conductivity of the postmortem bricks without metal/matte infiltration was found to be 3–4 W/(m·K) at 800 °C, whereas the thermal conductivity of samples with metal/matte infiltration was found to be between 3 W and 6 W/(m·K) at 800 °C. ; Peer reviewed |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
Ceramics International; Volume 52, issue 6, pp. 7428-7435; Financial support from Boliden AB is acknowledged. This study utilized RAMI Raw materials infrastructure financed by the Research Council of Finland and hosted jointly by Aalto University, GTK, and VTT.; PURE FILEURL: https://research.aalto.fi/files/211583935/Thermal_conductivity_of_used_copper_converter_bricks.pdf; https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/143249 |
| DOI: |
10.1016/j.ceramint.2025.12.483 |
| Availability: |
https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/143249; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2025.12.483 |
| Rights: |
openAccess ; CC BY ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.83AEF06E |
| Database: |
BASE |