Why do steel mills use wear-resistant ceramic linings?

During the production process, a large amount of equipment and pipelines are exposed to high-temperature, high-hardness materials (such as iron ore, steel slag, pulverized coal, and high-temperature furnace gases) for extended periods of time. The impact, erosion, and abrasion of these materials can severely damage the equipment, shortening its lifespan, requiring frequent repairs, and interrupting production. Wear-resistant ceramic linings, with their excellent wear resistance, high-temperature resistance, and chemical stability, effectively protect critical steel mill equipment, becoming a key material for reducing production costs and ensuring continuous production.

Steel Mill Core Pain Point: Prominent Equipment Wear
Wear in steel mills primarily arises from two scenarios, which directly determine the rigid demand for wear-resistant materials:

Material impact/erosion wear: In raw material transportation (such as conveyor belts and chutes), ore crushing, and blast furnace coal injection piping, high-hardness ore and pulverized coal impact or slide against the inner walls of equipment at high speeds, causing rapid thinning of the metal, pitting, and even perforation.

High-temperature wear and chemical corrosion: High-temperature equipment, such as steelmaking converters, ladles, and hot blast furnaces, not only suffers from physical wear from slag and charge materials but also from high-temperature oxidation and chemical corrosion from molten steel and slag. Ordinary metal materials (such as carbon steel and stainless steel) experience a sharp drop in hardness at high temperatures, accelerating wear by 5-10 times.

Without wear-resistant liners, the average equipment lifespan could be shortened to 3-6 months, requiring frequent downtime for component replacement. This not only increases maintenance costs (labor and spare parts) but also disrupts the continuous production process, resulting in significant capacity losses.

Key Application Scenarios for Wear-Resistant Ceramic Linings in Steel Mills

Different equipment exhibits distinct wear characteristics, requiring specific ceramic lining types (such as high-alumina ceramic, silicon carbide ceramic, and composite ceramic). Core application scenarios include:

Raw material conveying systems: belt conveyor hoppers, chutes, and silo linings.

Pain Point: Impact and sliding wear from falling bulk materials such as ore and coke can easily lead to hopper perforations.

Solution: Thick-walled (10-20mm) high-alumina ceramic liners, secured by welding or bonding, withstand impact and resist wear.

Blast furnace coal injection system: coal injection pipes, pulverized coal distributors

Pain point: High-velocity pulverized coal (flow rate 20-30 m/s) causes erosion and wear, with the most severe wear at pipe elbows, leading to wear-through and leakage.

Solution: Use thin-walled (5-10 mm) wear-resistant ceramic pipes with a smooth inner wall to reduce resistance and thickened elbows, resulting in a service life of 3-5 years (compared to 3-6 months for ordinary steel pipes).

Steelmaking Equipment: Converter Flue, Ladle Lining, Continuous Casting Roller

Pain Point: High-temperature slag (above 1500°C) erosion and chemical attack lead to slag accumulation and rapid wear in the flue, requiring the ladle lining to be both heat-resistant and wear-resistant.

Solution: High-temperature resistant silicon carbide ceramic lining (1600°C) offers strong resistance to slag erosion, reduces flue slag cleaning frequency, and extends ladle life.

Dust Removal/Waste Slag Handling System: Dust Removal Pipes and Slurry Pump Components
Pain Points: Dust-laden, high-temperature flue gas and slurry (including steel slag particles) cause wear and tear on pipes and pumps, leading to leakage.
Solution: A ceramic composite liner (ceramic + metal substrate) is used, offering both wear and impact resistance to prevent equipment damage from slurry leakage.

Comparison with Traditional Materials: Wear-Resistant Ceramic Liners Offer Better Economy​
Steel plants once widely used traditional wear-resistant materials such as manganese steel, cast stone, and wear-resistant alloys. However, there are significant gaps in both economy and performance when compared with wear-resistant ceramic liners:

In the long run, although the initial purchase cost of wear-resistant ceramic liners is higher than that of manganese steel and carbon steel, their extremely long lifespan (3-10 times that of traditional materials) and extremely low maintenance requirements can reduce the overall cost by 40%-60% over a 10-year cycle, while also avoiding production losses caused by equipment failure (a single-day production stoppage loss for a steel mill can reach millions of yuan).

Steel mills use wear-resistant ceramic liners, leveraging their high wear resistance, high temperature resistance, and low maintenance properties to address the wear issues of core equipment. Ultimately, this approach achieves the three key goals of extending equipment life, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring continuous production. With advancements in ceramic manufacturing technology (such as low-cost, high-purity alumina ceramics and ceramic-metal composite liners), their application in steel mills continues to expand, making them a key material for reducing costs and increasing efficiency in the modern steel industry.