The discovery and future of silicon bricks
Since the British W. W. Young made silicon bricks in 1822 with Dinas silica stone in South Wales, England, silicon bricks have a history of 177 years. Since Martin built an acid open-hearth furnace with silicon bricks in 1864, silicon bricks have been prominent in the metallurgical industry, and for a long time it has maintained a primary position in the consumption of refractory materials in steel mills.
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the annual production capacity of silicon bricks was about 30,000 to 40,000 t, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the output of silicon bricks was 63,000 t in 1955, accounting for 12% of the total output of refractory materials. In 1960, it reached 397,300 tons, accounting for 5% of the total output of refractory materials. However, with the development of steelmaking technology, the open-hearth furnace is basically eliminated, and the silicon brick used in the top of the electric furnace has been replaced by high aluminum refractory materials or water-cooled furnace tops, so that the silicon brick has almost withdrawn from the field of steelmaking, and the main service object is the coke oven, glass melting kiln and hot blast furnace of large blast furnaces. Therefore, the consumption of silicon bricks has been greatly reduced, and it has consumed about 100,000 tons per year since the 1970s, accounting for 1% to 3% of the total amount of refractory materials.
