Refractory recipe No I
Last year I started working with bronze as a medium. I really like what I learned and have decided to refine my knowledge. The first thing however that I would like to improve would be the furnace; more precisely, the refractory of my furnace. At the moment I am using a refractory blanket. The blanket works perfectly, but after about 2 - 3 firings the refractory would start melting (I guess due to uneven heat distribution). The other problem is also that the blanket gets quite messy, especially when firing with coal.
During December I experimented with pottery and even tried firing some pieces. The glaze and clay that I used needed to be fired at 1200 degrees celsius. For me that is a lot higher than the melting point of copper (1085 degrees). Working with pottery and clay I learned a few useful yet obvious things that will help me with the refractory of my bronze furnace. I've come up with a refractory recipe that will hopefully be able to withstand temperatures up to 1300 degrees.
I will try out the recipe and post about it in one of my future posts.
The recipe is:
1 Part (volume) Stoneware clay with a high grog content (marked at 1200 degrees celsius),
1 Part (volume) Perlite
1/2 Part (volume) Silica Flour
The clay will act as the binding material while the Silica flour is a great refractory. The perlite is also very heat resistant and acts as a great filler for the whole mixture.
Everything gets mixed together, this will most likely result in a stiff dry mixture that can be compressed into the mold of the furnace. If the mixture gets too dry it can be sprayed with a bit of water to make it more workable. Once completely dry the furnace should then be fired in order to bisque the refractory mixture.
During December I experimented with pottery and even tried firing some pieces. The glaze and clay that I used needed to be fired at 1200 degrees celsius. For me that is a lot higher than the melting point of copper (1085 degrees). Working with pottery and clay I learned a few useful yet obvious things that will help me with the refractory of my bronze furnace. I've come up with a refractory recipe that will hopefully be able to withstand temperatures up to 1300 degrees.
I will try out the recipe and post about it in one of my future posts.
The recipe is:
1 Part (volume) Stoneware clay with a high grog content (marked at 1200 degrees celsius),
1 Part (volume) Perlite
1/2 Part (volume) Silica Flour
The clay will act as the binding material while the Silica flour is a great refractory. The perlite is also very heat resistant and acts as a great filler for the whole mixture.
Everything gets mixed together, this will most likely result in a stiff dry mixture that can be compressed into the mold of the furnace. If the mixture gets too dry it can be sprayed with a bit of water to make it more workable. Once completely dry the furnace should then be fired in order to bisque the refractory mixture.
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| Refractory test brick no I |
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