Development of Mullite Based Refractory Pot for High Lead
Containing Glass Melting |
Sourav Nag,1 Sunirmal Jana,1 Mrinmoy Adhikary,1 Shibasish Barik,1 Alok Roy Chowdhury,1
Sirshendu Ghorui,1 Barun Haldar,1 Arup Ghosh,2 Himansu Sekhar Tripathi2 and Sitendu Mandal1,*
Pages : 150-156
DOI : 10.1080/0371750X.2021.1911685 |
Abstract |
Radiation shielding window (RSW) glass for nuclear reactor is primarily required for
protecting the operating personnel from harmful radioactive rays produced during
nuclear energy generation in nuclear hot cells. In this respect, the production of high
lead (>70% PbO) containing RSW glass is generally made using platinum pot through
bottom pouring flow casting technique. However, owing to low capacity (40 L max.)
of high cost platinum pot, the production of glass slab is limited to a maximum
dimension of 400ï‚´400ï‚´100 mm3. Therefore, an alternate cost effective technology is
highly required for making higher dimension glass slabs. To fulfill the requirement,
low cost and higher volume refractory pot based tilt casting technology can be
adopted. In this regard, the refractory pot is to be developed with adequate thermal,
chemical and mechanical stabilities towards sustaining high corrosive lead oxide
containing molten glass at 1100o-1200oC. For this purpose, a clay based aluminosilicate
pot material enriched with mullite has been developed and characterized
systematically. The rectangular bars have been fabricated by slip casting technique
and the fabricated bars have been fired between 1450o and 1550oC. The fired materials
have been characterized in terms of bulk density, apparent porosity, cold and hot
modulus of rupture, etc. The RSW glass with more than 70% lead oxide content has
successfully been melted in the pot. The quality of RSW glass produced using the
pot has also been studied. In an optimized composition of the pot, the formation of
higher content of mullite phase having high thermal shock and corrosion resistance
with the desired mechanical stability is the key factor behind the stability of the
refractory pot for making defect free RSW glass slabs. This cost effective refractory
pot technology can substitute the platinum pot technology for producing larger
dimension RSW glass slabs.
[Keywords: Refractory, Slip casting, Alumino-silicate, Mullite, High lead oxide glass] |
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