Fireproof high efficiency inorganic building insulation from waste industrial slag

要解决的研究问题：炼钢产生大量矿渣，由于其高可溶钙含量，在膨胀时不容易用作集料材料。形成的炉渣含有相当数量的夹带气体，因此在固化时具有相当开放的结构。钢渣是岩棉隔热材料的基础，广泛应用于建筑中，因为它是一种优良的隔热材料，化学稳定性好，完全耐火。最近高调的建筑火灾暴露了某些聚合物芯材金属产品，因此需要替代的不可燃绝缘材料。研究的主要目标和目的：该项目将寻求探索如何从钢铁厂直接利用熔渣并浇铸成板材产品。我们的目标是生产一种结构坚硬的保温板，可以作为独立材料使用，也可以用于复合钢板。其目的将是全面了解传统联合工厂中使用的BOS工艺和通过电弧法回收的钢渣的各种钢渣的化学性质。这项工作将发展到考虑炉渣的高温特性，以及如何在固化过程中增加泡沫特性，以最大限度地提高强度和最小限度地减轻重量。这可以在小型静态铸件上完成，然后将设计一个模型连铸工艺来模仿带钢连铸生产的工艺，使输入的熔渣能够以非常类似于金属铸造的工艺连续生产30-50 mm的板材产品。这一想法有可能应用于所有钢铁厂，甚至在生产无机渣状材料的其他领域(如玻璃)。由于该产品附加值高，并且是由通常会被填埋的东西制成的，因此从经济和环境角度来看，它具有难以置信的重要性，因为它是由熔渣(不重熔)直接原料制成的，其碳足迹优越。我们还预计，这可能会改变建筑绝缘，因为作为一种结构防火建筑元素，它比木材和基于聚合物的产品都有巨大的优势。将IT置于EPSRC范围内的新工程：这是一个独特的先进材料项目，将结合化学科学、物理和材料工程，提供一种完全抵抗火灾和环境退化的新型建筑绝缘。

THE RESEARCH QUESTION TO BE ADDRESSED:Steelmaking produces large megaton quantities of slag, which due to its high soluble calcium content cannot easily be used as an aggregate material as it swells. The slag as-formed contains considerable quantities of entrapped gases and hence upon solidification has quite an open structure. Steel slags form the basis of rockwool insulation which is used widely in buildings as it is an excellent insulator, is stable chemically and totally fire resistant. Recent high-profile building fires have thrown the light on certain polymeric cored metal products and there is a need for alternate non-combustible insulation. KEY OBJECTIVES AND AIMS OF THE RESEARCH:This project will seek to explore how molten slag can be used direct from the steel plant and cast into a board product. Our intention is to produce a structurally rigid insulation board that could be used as a stand-alone material or in composite steel panels. The aim will be to gain a full understanding of the chemical properties of various steel slags from both the BOS process as used in a conventional integrated works and that from steel recycled through electric arc routes. The work will evolve to consider the high temperature properties of the slag and how to increase the foaming characteristic during solidification to maximise strength and minimise weight. This can be done on small static casts and then a model continuous casting process will be designed to emulate that produced for strip casting to enable a 30-50mm board product to be produced continuously from input molten slag in a very similar process to that used for metal casting.This has potential to be an idea deployed in all steel plants and indeed in other areas (such as glass) where inorganic slag like materials are produced. Since the product is high in value addition, and is being made from something that would normally be landfilled it has incredible importance economically and from an environmental perspective as it is made from direct feed of molten slag (with no remelting) its carbon footprint is superior. We would also project that this could transformative in building insulation since as a structural fireproof building element it has huge advantages over both timber and polymeric based products.THE NOVEL ENGINEERING THAT PLACES IT WITHIN EPSRC REMIT:This is a unique advanced materials project which will combine chemical sciences, physics and materials engineering to deliver a new class of construction insulation which is completely resistant to fire and environmental degradation.