The rammed lining of the induction-type crucible furnaces for melting steel, cast iron, bronze, and Silumin is produced from a zircon composition bonded with sodium silicate solution. An analysis of published data [1, p. 72] shows that the sodium silicate solution lowers the refractoriness of the zircon composition under a load of 2 kgf/cm 2 to 1000~ and increases the decomposition of the zircon at 1500~ to 17-20~.The use of a solution of acid aluminophosphates (AP) as binder for the zircon composition gives a highstrength refractory material with good thermal-shock resistance for rammed linings [2]. However, the low stability and high setting temperature of aluminophosphate solutions precludes their use in refractory compositions.A technology has been developed and introduced for the industrial-scale production of aluminochromophosphate binders (ACPB) which are concentrated aqueous solutions of mixed aluminum and chrome phosphate. The pH of the solutions is 1-2, their bonding properties are good, they are stable in long-term storage, and their setting temperature (100-150~ is significantly lower than that of AP binders. In terms of toxicity, ACPB solutions are comparable with sodium silicate solutions, and when working with them it is necessary to take similar precautions. The surface tension of ACPB solution is low so that they readily wet the particles of the refractory filler, the result being that the heat treatment gives a material with a dense structure and high slag resistance [3].The use of aluminochromophosphate in compositions with zircon for refractory ramming compounds is feasible in principle [4] but information about their thermophysical properties, the technology-of their use for the lining of crucible furnaces, and the behavior of these linings in service is almost totally nonexistent.The thermal method is now accepted as the most efficient one for stripping the nuclear fuel of the spent cells of fast-neutron reactors. In this method the steel components of the fuel-element assembly are melted and the lighter alloy is separated from the ceramic nuclear fuel by filtration or decantation [5]. The thermal stripping of the fuel elements should preferably be carried out with rammed refractory crucibles in an induction furnace.The present authors investigated the principal properties of ACP-bonded zircon ramming compounds with a view to using the compounds in the melting--separating devices of equipment for the thermal stripping of spent fuel elements.
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