Aluminum
RSS Dixie is involved in both the primary and secondary aluminum production industries. We can provide numerous products to suit your process needs. Aluminum production can be broken down into two processes: primary and secondary.
Primary aluminum production involves extracting alumina from bauxite ore. This alumina is then reduced via electrolytic reduction into aluminum metal. The majority of primary aluminum facilities require refractory brick for the flue walls in their extensive carbon bake furnaces; however, there are many areas that require the use of monolithic refractory materials.
RSS Dixie routinely provides air set mortars such as Dixie Super Mortar and Dixie Hi Al Set Mortar for laying brick in carbon bake flue walls. In addition, we provide a large amount of our Dixie Crete MC-5001 for flue wall head caps.
Secondary aluminum production involves melting aluminum scrap into reusable aluminum metal. Secondary production accounts for a large portion of the aluminum supply in the United States and the rest of the world.
The main melting unit in the modern day secondary aluminum shop is the reverberatory furnace. A host of other transport mechanisms such as ladles, launders, and troughs are used to transport molten aluminum after leaving the reverberatory furnace.
Refractories lining the reverberatory furnace must withstand thermal shock, aggressive chemical attack from drosses formed by the addition of fluxing salts, and molten aluminum which has a lower viscosity than water.
RSS Dixie provides numerous refractories for the melt line, belly band, upper sidewalls, and roofs in reverberatory furnaces. Our Thermogen 85 GR is an excellent gun mix for upper sidewall applications that exhibits the properties of a plastic when installed.
For metal contact applications in the belly band and below, our Dixie Crete LC 7001 Al is common place. Along with its pumpable and self-flow capabilities, its Al additive package helps resist metal penetration and corundum growth on the furnace walls.
For further transport of molten aluminum in ladles, launders, and troughs we can supply numerous castables and plastics.
