Fireclay

High temperature furnaces require the appropriate refractory materials as liners. Several of these refractory materials including fireclays have been employed in high temperature furnaces as refractories. Geophagic materials as a type of clay materials eaten by animals, including man have also been asserted to possess significant refractory properties but proper investigation and assessment of their thermal behavior have not well been studied. This work therefore investigated and assessed the potential utilization of these geophagic materials as refractories for furnace lining. The physical, chemical and thermal treatment properties of two common geophagic clay materials, anthill and pica, were explored. Bricks made from these clayed materials were fired in a locally manufactured furnace. Thermal shock resistance (13 cycles), linear shrinkage (1.3%) and loss on ignition (9.6 %) as properties of these refractories were evaluated. The results indicated significant amount of Fe, Al, K, Ca and Mg as the predominant elements in these clay samples. The results also demonstrated that pica clay cannot withstand temperatures beyond 300 o C. Thermal treatment results show that anthill can withstand temperatures of 1500 o C without significant deformation. A blend between the two materials was able to withstand temperatures between 800 o C-900 o C before cracking. These results indicate that anthill is a potential geophagic material which can be employed as a fireclay refractory in metallurgical furnace lining.