Flexosphere Technology—Improved Flexibility and Corrosion Resistance of Fired Magnesia-Chromite Bricks

Flexospheres are a recent product development successfully implemented in fired magnesia-chromite bricks at RHI Magnesita. This technology focuses on inhibiting the corrosionCorrosion mechanism and increasing flexibility of the refractoryRefractories product. During development, the experimental investigations included chemical and physical analysesAnalysis as well as standardised corrosion testing at RHI Magnesita’s Technology Center Leoben (Austria). The results showed that the Flexosphere technology not only improves corrosionCorrosion resistance, but also contributes to the formation of a more flexible structure, which results in better thermal shock resistance. Furthermore, a RH degasser field trial validated the laboratory results, revealing a clear performance increase compared to the standard product. Thus, the outstanding properties achieved with the patented Flexospheres make this development suitable for applications under aggressive conditions, such as the tuyere area in copper furnaces or the RH degasser in the steel industry, by guaranteeing a significant quality improvement of the magnesia-chromite product.