As a result of the reconstruction of the shop, the furnace was shut down for the main maintenance after being used for 1 year.When the lining was inspected, it was established that it was still in a reasonable working state.The wear on the walls in the slag zone was 40-60 mm (20-25% of the original thickness).There was only very slight wear (5-10mm) below the level of the slag zone.As a result of the work carried out, a Soviet lining for LFR-2 CTO baleout pot furnace has been developed and tested.The resistance of this lining is as good as that of the lining made from imported mass.

Out-of-furnace vacuum treatment of steel is a promising method for improving its quality and is, consequently, finding ever-increasing application in the metallurgical plants of the Soviet Union and other countries [i]. The effectiveness (efficiency) of introducing vacuum treatment of steel depends to a large extent on the stability (life) of the monolithic lining of the ladles [2].The ladle lining is prepared from phosphate-bonded high-alumina ramming bodies [3]. The high-alumina bodies based on phosphate binders possess numerous advantages over the bodies prepared using other binders: higher thermal shock resistance, density, and strength and greater resistance to the action of molten metal and slag [4].

Of all of the scrap and losses in conversions, a large portion (about 60%) is obtained in production in the form of cut-backs and scrap [i]. One of the basic factors in metal economy is a reduction in the top cut-back in rolling ingots.In our country and abroad in recent years the method of teeming steel with the use of hot tops to keep the top portion of the ingot molten has obtained wide use, but burning of the hot tops to the metal has a significant detremental effect on the surface quality of the top portion of the ingot. For fuller use of the top metal it is necessary to develop antiburning coatings providing a high quality surface on the top portion of the ingot.Earlier proposed protective coatings have not found wide use in industry as the result of insufficient effectiveness [2].To prepare antiburning coatings the authors of this article have tested chrome--magnesite powder in a solution of magnesium sulfate and SB disthene--sillimanite compound with a density of 1.80 g/cm 3. To improve the antiburning properties of the coating from 0.5 to 3.5%* boron nitride in intervals of 0.5% was added to them [3].The antiburning coatings were tested under laboratory conditions on production samples of "Dneprosptetsstal" Plant hot tops. The composition of the hot tops was 80% sand, 10% sawdust, 10% thermal electric power plant ash, and 10-20% (more than 100%) water glass.The samples for studying the thermal conductivity and heat resistance were prepared by the slip method and were dried in a drying chamber at II0-120~ for 24 h. The samples for determination of the gas permeability were prepared by the ramming method on an impact machine. The physicomechanical properties of the samples determined by standard methods are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and Table i.Here and subsequently weight percentages are shown.