Characterization of firebricks used in copper smelting furnaces of the 19th century, Atacama, Chile

Abstract

In the 19th century, mining in northern Chile was of great economic importance. Today, the ruins of the copper smelters and abundant fragments of refractory bricks from their furnaces remain. The refractory materials have not been previously studied. the origin, physical and chemical properties, and compressive strength of 10 different samples of historical refractory bricks collected on-site were investigated. The characterization results showed that the bricks are silico-aluminous, unlike the magnesium-chromium bricks used by current foundries. It was determined that 90% of them were produced in the UK and 10% were manufactured in Chile. The phases present are mullite, quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite, and the chemical composition corresponds mainly to SiO2. The compressive strength of the historical bricks is similart to those currently used,. These results may contribute to the knowledge of the 19th century mining and metallurgical historical heritage of Chile and the UK.