HIGH PERFORMANCE TAPHOLE CLAY FOR BLAST

FURNACE
Yuji.Otsubo, Atsushi Yamasaki, Yasukuni Tanaka &Takashi Matsunaga
Dr. A. K. Samanta*, Anindya Roy*, Dr. S. Adak* & Dr. A. K.Chattopadhyay*
Krosaki Harima Corporation,
1-1 Higashihama-machi, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyusyu City 806-8586, JAPAN
* TRL Krosaki Refractories Limited, Belpahar -768 218, Odisha (INDIA)

1.0 Abstract additives. It is also important to evaluate taphole clay

Taphole clay plays very important role in blast
furnace cast house operation. In past, taphole clay
was used for a mere purpose of plugging of taphole
and discharge of iron and slag produced inside blast
furnace. However, recently taphole clay is exposed to
severe condition as the size of blast furnace become
bigger and operation gets severe.
The important role for taphole clay are: 1) Stable
operation by hearth drainage 2) Reduction of
workload and achievement of small refractory
consumption by longer tapping duration and 3)
Achievement of longer furnace life by protection of
hearth side wall with long taphole length.
In order to fulfill these functions, various studies
have been conducted on binders and fine additives. It
is also important to evaluate taphole clay as a
structure rather than just chemical and physical
properties. Therefore, it is inevitable to understand
the characteristic of taphole clay behavior under hot
and confined situation. With these studies and
evaluation method, it became possible to customize
the taphole clay with customer requirements with
reliable performance.
The present paper discusses the design and
development of taphole clay; and its performance
targetting bigger size Blast Furnaces.
2.0 Introduction
Taphole clay consists of refractory aggregate and
liquid organic binder. Aggregate and liquid binders
are mixed and formed in semi solid mass, called as
taphole clay.
In order to design a good tap hole clay, various
studies have been conducted on binders and fine
as a structure rather than just chemical and physical
properties of it. Therefore, it is important to
understand the characteristic of taphole clay behavior
under hot and confined situation. With these studies
and evaluation method, it is possible to customize the
taphole clay based on the requirement of customer to
provide reliable performance.
There are three basic factors of taphole clays i.e.
ramming, tapping and sidewall protection (Fig.1).
Subsequent requirement and features of taphole clay
are complicated and mutually inter-related. First of
all, it is necessary to have appropriate extrusion
pressure at the time of ramming so that taphole clay
can create compact texture inside taphole. Therefore,
it is important to understand the raming characteristic
of clay. Secondly, it is necessary to create smooth
and good taphole for longer cast duraton without
damaging it by too much hammering or oxy-opening
for prevention of cracks and longer cast duration.
Therefore, adjustment of the taphole clay strength by
controlling sintering characteristic is important in
accordance with the type of drilling machine such as
pneumatic or hydraulic driven. This longer cast
duration contributes to not only the reduction of clay
consumption or other consumables but also reduction
of workload at cast house such as gun up and drilling.
Thirdly, taphole clay is also expected to protect
hearth side wall by creating protection layer of
taphole clay called mushroom inside taphole. In order
to create good mushroom, it is important to have
higher plasticity and excellent adhesion with old clay
inside the on exposure to hot and confined space. By
achieving all aforementioned requirements, it is
possible not only to reduce refractory consumption
but also to have stable operation of Blast Furnace.
 Factors Requirements Features

Ramming Appropriate Pressure High Plasticity

High corrosion
Longer Cast duration
resistance

Tapping No-splashy tapping Minimized binder

Load Side Load Side

Smooth drilling High strength

Side wall
Longer taphole length Faster setting
protection Fig.3 Photographs of Samples after Load Test
Good adhesion
3.2 High Corrosion Resistance: Schematic
diagram of rotary slag corrosion test is shown in the
Fig.1 Concept of Material Design Fig.4. Samples are formed into mold with 7MPa
pressure and pre-fired in reduced atmosphere at
5000C. Then samples are placed in rotary slag
3.0 Experimental and Discussion corrosion test equipment and fired at 15500C. During
experiment, slag is removed and fresh slag is added
3.1 High Plasticity: Plasticity of tap hole clay every 30 minutes repeatedly for 10 cycles. The cross
has been measured with compressive load test. The sectional views of the samples after slag corrosion
cylindrical samples (Height = 50mm; Diameter = test are shown in Fig.5.
50mm) were prepared and heat treated it in an
Electric Furnace at 1500C for one hour. Then
plasticity was determined with uniform loading rate
of 4mm per minute as shown in Fig.2. Taphole clay
A, with low viscosity of tar, showed stagnant load at
8 mm stroke position. This means sample A suffered
severe cracks, whereas release of load was observed
in sample C with high viscosity of tar, resulting linear
increase of compression stroke and load. The
photographs of the samples after destructive test are
Fig.4 Rotary Slag Test Furnace
shown in the Fig.3. Sample C with higher plasticity
showed fewer cracks compared with sample A with
lower plasticity. Based on the above results, it is clear Additive 0% Additive a% Additive 2a%

that taphole clay with higher plasticity gives longer

and good texture inside the taphole under hot
condition.

Viscosity of Tar(Pa­s) 
A:0.1     B:0.23 
C:1.0     D:2.0 
Fig.5 Cross Sectional View of Samples after Slag
Corrosion Test

Wear resistance of tap hole clay can be improved by

adding nitride compounds. Nitrides form strong bond
during tapping. The relationship between nitride
content and wear index is shown in the Fig.6. It has
been observed that longer cast duration can be
Fig.2 Compression Load Test
acheived with increased amount of nitride.
Quality and quantity of metallic addition in tap hole 120 26
clay improve the strength and porosity. The Modulus

Binder content (index)

Apparent porosity(%)
110 25
of Rapture and apparent porosity of clay are shown in

1200℃ ×3h
presence of two different kinds of metllic additives X 100 24
and Y (Fig.7). Strength and apparent porosity were
measured after firing the sample at 12000C/3hrs in 90 23
reducing amosphere. Metallic additive X shows Binder
80 22
higher strength, whereas metallic additive Y shows content
Apparent porosity
lower apparent porosity. Therefore, it is essential to 70 21
select suitable metallic additive to get optimized 0 b
3 2b
6 3b
9 4b
12
properties both in terms of strength and apparent Ultra fine powder content(%)
porosity. Fig.8 Ultra-Fine Powder Content & Wear Index/
60 6 Apparent Porosity
Modulus of rupture

Modulus of rupture (MPa)

Good<--Wear Index-->Poor

50 5
Wear Index
40 4
3.4 Faster Setting: In order to reduce initial
spitting during tapping, faster hardening speed is
30 3
important. Fig.9 shows hardening characteristic of
20 2
clay in presence of different binders.
10 1 The test was conducted with cylindrical sample
0 0 (Height = 30mm; Diameter = 35mm) and were kept
0 a6 12
2a 18
3a in electric furnace preheated at 4500C. Each samples
Additive contents (%)
were taken out from the Furnace at certain interval
and crushing strengths were measured. Resin bonded
Fig.6 Additive Contents and Wear Index / clay shows very high hardening speed in comparison
Modulous of Rupture with tar bonded clay. So, it is possible to adjust the
hardening speed of the clay by proper mixing of tar
and resin.
Modulus of rupture (MPa)

10 23
Apparent porosity (%)

8 22

6 21

4 20

2 19
Blank Metal X Metal Y

c% c%

Fig.7 Modulus of Rupture and Apparent Porosity

with Metallic Additives X and Y
Fig.9 Hardening behaviour of Clay in Presence of
3.3 Optimization of Binder: Different Binders
In order to reduce the defect caused by volatilization
of binder under hot condition, in general, it is 3.5 Good Adhesion: The blast pressure inside
important to reduce the binder content as minimum the Blast Furnace is high wih larger size of furnace
as possible with certain extrusion pressure. Fig.8 and higher productivity. To give the satisfactory
shows the effect of binder addition along with ultra performance under severe condition, taphole clay
fine powder content on apparent porosity of clay after with good adhesive characteristic is necessary to
heat reatement at 12000C in reducing atmosphere. It form uniform and strong protection layer, called
indicates that for this type of taphole mixes, an mushroom inside the furnace. For this purpose,
addition of 2b% of ultra fine powder results in the taphole clay containing Roseki aggregates show
highest reduction of tar binder content while keeping better ability to form mushroom. It has been observed
extrusion pressure at same level. By doing so, it is that Roseki aggregate containing clay shows better
possible to achieve lower apparent porosity and performance than taphole clay with alumina
dense structure. aggregates, in spite of the fact that alumina aggregate
has higher refractoriness than pyrophyllitic
aggregate. Roseki aggregates have unique expansion
characteristic and gives good creep characteristic
under hot and confined condition. So taphole clay
with Roseki shows unique thermal expansion
(Fig.10). This means that taphole clay texture
becomes denser and at the same time gives better
adhesion to existing taphole clay and creates longer
taphole. Fig.11 shows the result of adhesion test with
SiC crucible. Crucibles are filled with clay having
Roseki aggregate and Al2O3 aggrgate followed by
Fig.12 Schematic Taphole Clay Ramming Test &
firing at 14500C/3hrs in reducing atmosphere. It has
Rammed
been observed that there is gap formation between
SiC crucible and clay having Al2O3 aggrgate whereas
no gap formation observed in case of clay with
Roseki aggregate. This gap may results loose texture
and cracking during operation.

2.5 Roseki clay

Thermal expansion ratio(%)

Alumina clay
2

1.5
Tar Resin
1

0.5 Fig.13 Phographs of Rammed Taphole Clay

0
(Resin & Tar Bonded)
0 300 600 900 1200 1500
Temperature (degreeC)

Fig.10 Thermal Expansion of the Clay

SiCcastable

Fig.14 Schematic Ramming Test Followed by

Al2O3
Firing in SiC Crucible
Expansion aggregate

Taphole clay

Fig.11 Adhesion Test in SiC Crucible

3.6 Evaluation Method of Taphole Clay as SiC Sleeve Taphole Clay

Structure:
Since the different functions of taphole clay are very
much complicated as mentioned in Fig.1; therefore,
by evaluating only chemical and physical properties
are sometimes misleading. In order to evaluate Crack
taphole clay performance in actual case (as a Fig.15 : Apperance of Taphole Clay after SiC
structure), laboratory equipment for simulation tests Crucible Test
are very much essential. A series of equipment like
taphole, mud gun, drilling machine etc. have been
developed for simulation test in laboratory.
3.7 Simulation of Taphole Clay Ramming 5.0 References
and Drilling:
1) Y.Ohtsubo, Y.Kitazawa, M.Sugawara and
Fig.12 shows the schematic diagram for taphole clay K.Asano, UNITECR 2003, 21C-14.
ramming test and rammed sample. This test has been 2) Y.Ushijima, Y.Ohtsubo, T.Matsunaga,
carried out by filling the furnace with coke followed T.Suzuki, 2004 AISTech Conference
by heating up to 10000C. In red hot coke, taphole Proceedings.
clay is rammed and cooled down the furnace. On 3) A.Yamasaki, Y.Ohtsubo, K.Hachimura,
cooling, furnace is taken apart and spreading of T.Matsunaga, International Seminar on
taphole clay is observed inside the coke. Photographs Ironmaking in Blast Furnace, 2010.
of the rammed samples (both for Resin and Tar
bonded Taphole Clays) are shown in the Fig.13.
It is also possible to see the drilling condition of
taphole clay at 12000C by using hydraulic drilling
machine. Taphole clay is rammed into SiC sleeve and
cured it with certain time before drilling (Fig.14).
After the drilling, SiC sleeve is taken out and cut into
half section for observation (Fig.15). With this test, it
is possible to evaluate the taphole clay as a structure
such as drilling time as well as crack generation.

4.0 Conclusions:
Basic functions of taphole clay are: 1) Stable
operation by hearth drainage 2) Achievement of low
specific consumption of refractory by longer cast
duration, and 3) Achievement of longer furnace life
by protection of hearth side wall with long taphole
length. In order to fulfill these functions, various
studies have been conducted on binders and fine
additives. It is also important to evaluate taphole clay
as a structure rather than just evaluation of chemical
and physical properties. Therefore, it is inevitable to
understand the characteristic of taphole clay behavior
under hot and confined situation. With these studies
and evaluation method, it is possible to customize the
taphole clay with requirement of customers for
smooth and reliable operation of Blast Furance.