BRAKEGLEN
LIMITED
REFRACTORY CONSULTANTS
John Clements, C.Eng.,
M.I.Mech.E., M.I.E.
Managing Director
It is perhaps not by mere chance that the word "refractory"
has a shared meaning with that which is perverse and unruly;
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OXFORD
ENGLISH DICTIONARY
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Refractory
(rifrae-ktori), a.
and sb, 1599.[alt,
of REFRACTARY by substitution of -ory.]A.adj.
1. Stubborn,
obstinate, perverse; un-manageable, rebellious 606. †2.
Strongly opposed, refusing compliance, to
something -1723. 3. Med.
Of wounds, diseases, and the like: Obstinate, not yielding to
treatment 1663. b. Able
to offer resistance to a disease; not susceptible to morbid agencies 1884. 4.
Resisting the action of heat; difficult to fuse (or to work in any way) |
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Refractory technology differs from other engineering disciplines.
Engineers can design with confidence in steel. The application of
reliable published data to standard formulae will readily give
accurate values for stress, strain, shear, deflection, creep, yield
point, and so on. The same is not true of refractories where
designers not only use different language for the same phenomena but
rely on "unwarranted published data"
which, for the most part, cannot be applied to established formulae.
The known shortfall in "science" with refractory
technology can only be made up by experience and a sympathetic
understanding of the materials concerned.
