Refractory Castables Casting Method Development History

It has been documented that refractory castables have similar fluidity and consistency of pouring as civil Portland cement concrete when mixed and placed. As refractory castables technology progressed, other casting methods and techniques were used. Low-cement castables require a great deal of vibration to flow and cure at the start of the pour. The improved flow of the next generation of advanced castables drove the development of self-flowing and pumpable refractory castables. The advantage of self-flowing castables over vibrating castables is the flow and density without any external force. In the early days, the ease of installation of the castables depended on the skill level of the workers, the complexity of the filling of the mixture, and the narrowness of the space.

Nowadays, refractory castables can be installed either cast or sprayed. The casting method is usually used to build large blocks of well-defined dimensions; the spraying method is usually used to coat large surfaces or to repair existing refractory linings.