Data on the chemical and mineral composition and properties of bauxite in Russia and across the globe are reported. The material composition is shown to be a central factor that controls high-temperature properties of bauxites -refractoriness and melting point.At present and in the near future, the main types of refractories for ferrous metallurgy manufactured on a commercial scale are oxide-carbon materials in the four-component system MgO -Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -C.The primary physicochemical parameter that determines the wear resistance of a refractory under heavy-duty operating conditions is energy density [1 -3]. The energy density D, kJ/cm 3 , is the total amount of energy which is required for complete destruction of a unit volume of material; it is defined as the ratio of the energy of formation (Gibbs energy change DG T 0 ) to the molar volume V:The MgO -Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -C system can provide a total of seven refractory oxide compounds with melting points from 2800 to 1710°C and a graphite with a sublimating temperature of 3800 -4200°C. The energy density and melting point of aluminum and magnesium-containing compounds show no correlation with the melting point (Table 1). Table 1 shows that alumina-containing compounds offer a clear advantage over their chemical analogs of magnesian composition in the calculated (theoretical) energy density, despite the lower melting point of the corresponding simple and complex oxides.The high energy density of alumina-containing materials bears direct relevance to their other properties of practical importance such as enhanced resistance to the corrosive attack by basic slags (except for high-calcium slags), inertness in reducing liquid and gaseous media, low thermal expansion, high strength and hardness, and other properties. Based on densely sintered corundum, a unique heat-resistant material -tabular alumina -has been developed for wide application; currently, this material has no analog among hightemperature magnesian refractories.There are good reasons to believe that further progress in the field will be achieved by increasing the use of corundum-containing high-alumina refractories at the expense of
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