Authors: A. Sadri, R. Timmer
5th Ironmaking Conference Proceedings
Abstract
Modern Blast Furnace operation, which combines high productivity with high fuel injection rates, will have a significant effect on hearth lining wear. This will ultimately shorten the hearth life. In the iron and steel industry, traditionally, empirical techniques based on thermal flux measurements in combination with numerical modeling has been used in order to estimate the refractory thickness and quality in operating Blast Furnaces. Recently, a more accurate and reliable technique based on stress wave propagation principals has been developed for measuring refractory lining thickness in operating Blast Furnaces. Acousto Ultrasonic-Echo (AU-E) is a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technique that uses the resulting time and frequency spectra of the compressive waves to map and evaluate the condition of the lining in Blast Furnaces. In addition, the technique uses known material properties to account for thermal and dimensional effects for the refractory evaluation. This paper presents the main principles of AU-E technique and discusses a few examples related to NDT measurements in various Blast Furnaces.
