Abstract
Furnaces are the essential equipment in any ceramics laboratory. They can range in size from small electrically heated box furnaces, often called muffle furnaces, which can fit on a bench, to the enormous gas-fired furnaces used to melt glass. In between these extremes there are furnaces of many shapes and sizes, designed to run at a range of temperatures and in a range of atmospheres. In addition to obtaining a high temperature, it is necessary to have furnace components that can withstand these temperatures without degradation. These materials are known as refractories. Much of our knowledge of refractory ceramics has come from early developments in the iron and steel industries. Whenever temperatures are high, vapor pressures may also be high, so be aware that the furnace material may contaminate the material you are processing. We will also describe methods for measuring high temperatures and some of the important safety considerations that you must know when using furnaces and working at high temperatures.
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General References
Barin, I. (1989) Thermochemical Data for Pure Substances, VCH Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH, Weinheim, Germany. Gives tables and compilations of thermodynamic data.
Chapman, A.J. (1984) Heat Transfer, 4th edition, Macmillan, New York. A standard heat transfer text.
Chesters, J.H. (1973) Refractories: Production and Properties, The Iron and Steel Institute, London. Gives comprehensive information about the composition and properties of the different types of refractory brick.
Finn, C.W.P. (1991) “Furnaces and related equipment,” in Engineered Materials Handbook Volume 4 Ceramics and Glasses, ASM International, pp. 244–254. A review of furnaces and related equipment.
Gilchrist, J.D. (1963) Furnaces, Pergamon Press, Oxford. Although more than 40 years old this is a useful (and concise) monograph with a great deal of useful information. It goes into much more detail concerning thermodynamics and the theory of heating and heat transfer than we do.
McGee, T.D. (1988) Principles and Methods of Temperature Measurement, Wiley, New York.
Nassau, Kurt (1984) Gemstone Enhancement: Heat, Irradiation, Impregnation, Dyeing and Other Treatments Which Alter the Appearance of Gemstones, and the Detection of Such Treatments, Butterworth Heinemann, London. Appendix A is a brief and clearly written description of the different types of furnaces often encountered in ceramics laboratories.
Norton, F.H. (1968) Refractories, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York. This also covers furnace construction and the use of refractories in the metallurgical industries.
Piccolpasso, C. (1557) The Three Books of the Potter’s Art; translated by R. Lightbown and A. Caiger-Smith, Scolar Press, London (1980).
Remmey, G.B. (1994) Firing Ceramics, World Scientific, Singapore.
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(2007). Furnaces. In: Ceramic Materials. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46271-4_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46271-4_9
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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