Method of raw materials selection for production of the MgO-C bricks of comparable properties using PCA and K-medoids

MgO-C refractories are zonally installed in most of the key heat devices of steel and iron metallurgy with the exposure to various corrosive factors. One of the most significant factors is low-temperature decarburization resulting in the oxidation of carbon in MgO-C refractories and loss of its properties. Moreover MgO-C materials are exposed for direct attack of liquid slag or steel melt which easily infiltrate the porous, decarburized hot face of the bricks. Cost of MgO-C materials of high quality is important for refractories user. For this reason researches try to develop materials of high quality but with lower cost by substituting fused raw materials with sintered ones or with recycled MgO-C. In this article, method of selecting the raw materials for production of MgO-C bricks with comparable properties is shown. Twenty different variants of MgO-C materials were prepared with the use of various quality raw materials. Basic properties of the industrially produced MgO-C bricks were measured. To select recipes with similar quality principal components analysis method and K-medoids algorithm were applied. To verify the results corrosion resistance of selected MgO-C materials were tested with the use of induction furnace of medium frequency.