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HEARTH CALCULATOR | |
Need a fast price indication for a Blast Furnace hearth lining? When planning a reline or new furnace project, the Hearth Calculator will enable you to obtain a cost indication immediately!
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Join Us At METEC
June 28th-2nd July, 2011 | |
Hall 4
Stand C20 |
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Dear Newsletter Reader,
It's METEC/ECIC time again and we look forward to seeing many of you, our valued customers, at our booth in Düsseldorf this June. We will be located in Hall 4/Stand C20. Please stop by and see us during the show. GrafTech has even more reasons to celebrate this year as 2011 marks the 125th anniversary of GrafTech International. Our entire company is getting into the celebration and each location around the globe was challenged with combining our theme with a public service event that reflected, "What can you do with 125"? We will keep you posted on the creativity of the locations and share some of the exciting events that occur during the year based on this theme!
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Metinvest to start up Blast Furnace #3 at Yenakievo (EMZ) this Summer
Metinvest's Yenakievo steelworks in Ukraine is due to recommission its #3 blast furnace this summer. The upgraded furnace will have absorbed investments of well over $250 million (USD) when completed and will have a production capacity of 1.2m tonnes/year. Work on the then 760,000 t/y furnace started in 2007, but has been slowed down as the company plunged into dealing with more pressing issues, stemming from the world economic crisis and the subsequent steel market collapse in 2008-2009. However, the dynamics of Metinvest's key markets have allowed it to return to the project, in the end postponing its completion by a mere six months. Yenakievo's pig iron output in November 2010 amounted to 165,800 t/y, 16% more than in October. The plant produced 1.96m t of pig iron in the first eleven months of 2010, up 2% on the corresponding period last year. (source: Steel Business Briefing)
An important part of this furnace investment is the new hearth lining. Blast furnace #3 will be the first blast furnace in Ukraine with a UCAR® Refractory hearth. The EMZ plant has 3 blast furnaces. #3 is a 9.1m diameter furnace with 2 tapholes and stave cooled hearth and bosh. The GrafTech supplied lining includes a GradeD™ carbon block bottom with NMA™ and NMD™ HotPressed™ brick hearth walls and tuyere band. Metinvest has the following mission statement: "The strategic aim of Metinvest is to create a world-class mining and steel industrial company achieving the topmost positions in Europe and worldwide". Investing in a high performing UCAR® hearth lining will most certainly be in line with the company's strategy. |
Brazil's CSN Satisfied with Grout Performance, Extending Big Block Campaign Life
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) operates a major integrated steel plant in Brazil. These highly qualified operators have been using UCAR® GR37™ Grout to address thermal conductivity issues related to the big block hearth wall presently used in their blast furnaces.
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Photo shows typical cracks in blocks used in hearth wall. |
Mr. Pedro Sousa, Refractory Manager at CSN tells us that:
"We have duplex thermocouples in our big block hearth wall, which provide an indication of when and where there is some disconnection between the refractory and the blast furnace shell. Every time we make a grout injection using GR37™ material, we notice a drop in the temperature readings afterwards. Due to the results, we strongly believe that it is possible to re-establish the thermal connection by filling up the possible voids with GR37™ Grout.
We also have seen some good results regarding reductions in gas leaking through the hearth"
UCAR® GR37™ Grout is a unique two component grouting material designed to re-establish thermal contact through the blast furnace hearth wall. It contains expandable graphite flakes, which will expand with increased temperatures. While expanding, its thermal conductivity will increase. The expanding grout will fill voids in a big block lining. Such voids are a common problem resulting from the shrinkage and/or loss of volatiles from the rammed paste annulus that goes between the big blocks and the shell. The grout will also fill cracks caused by thermal expansion inside the carbon wall blocks. Learn more about GR37™ Grout here. The price list here can be found here. |
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Moscow Conference of Refractories & Metallurgy
Starting on March 31, the International Conference of Refractories & Metallurgists was held in Moscow. This annual event was organized by Intermet Engineering Ltd., the Magnezit Group and the International Union of Metallurgists. Key subjects included the use of new refractories in the metallurgy industry, in particular those used in production of iron and steel.
Last year's conference coincided with a larger volcanic eruption on Iceland, which had an impact on the international attendance. This year involved no such unfortunate aviation problems which is why the number of participants counted close to 300! Mr. Edward Goncharov, representing GrafTech presented an appreciated paper discussing different blast furnace hearth lining concepts, concluding that the UCAR® Refractory System offers superior performance in use. The name of the paper was "Огнеупорная концепция компании UCAR® - новые достижения сроков службы футеровки лещади и горна доменных печей по состоянию на 2010 год", and you can read it in Russian here. Chinese here. English here. |
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GrafTech's 125 year Anniversary
The year was 1886. The year when Mr. John Pemberton introduced Coca-Cola to the world and France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States. That same year Mr.
 | | Kelly Taylor, Associate Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communication and Lionel Batty Vice President - Corporate Research & Development |
Charles F. Brush started a plant manufacturing carbon for electric lamps in Cleveland, a company that would later be named GrafTech. Quoting GrafTech CEO Craig Shular, reviewing a recent article published in the press, "[This is an] excellent article that recaps how far we have come over the last several years. It also covers the growth phase we are now in and details our recent acquisitions. I am looking very much forward to our upcoming 125 year anniversary celebration. It is all about teamwork!!"
Read the complete article here. |
METEC #8 and ECIC #6 in 2011-Two Huge Events at the Same Time and the Same Place!
The last European Coke and Ironmaking Conference (ECIC #5) was held in Stockholm in June 2005. Here is an opportunity to re-read one of our favorite papers from that event: "New Hearth Lining Direction at Salzgitter Flachstahl Blast Furnace B". This summer the conference will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany and it will be combined with the METEC InSteelCon 2011 event. These events all take place as accompanying congresses and conferences to the leading metallurgical trade fair METEC and the trade fairs GIFA, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST. More than 70,000 visitors are expected. In addition to attending the ECIC, GrafTech will exhibit at the METEC conference and will be located in Hall 4/Stand C20. |
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Refractory Quiz-Try your luck!
Please try your knowledge in our METEC UCAR® Refractory Quiz here.
Please come to our stand and take advantage of some great hospitality! We look forward to see you in our booth. Should you not be able to visit us in Düsseldorf, the correct answers will be attached to our next Newsletter! |
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GrafTech, HotPressed, ChillKote, C34, GR37, Grade D, NMA, NMD, RP4, SmartRam, UniGraf, RefractoryFlex, FlexLine, and FlexRepair are all trademarks of GrafTech International Holdings Inc. UCAR® is a registered trademark used under license by GrafTech International Holdings Inc. The information contained in or referred to in this newsletter is based on data believed to be reliable but GrafTech makes no warranties, express or implied, as to its accuracy and assumes no liability arising out of its use. GrafTech's liability to purchasers is expressly limited to the terms and conditions of sale. ©2011 GrafTech International Holdings Inc. |
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