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Chapter 9
Problems and Solutions found during the refractory
installation in rotary kiln

9.1 Using a non-standard size shim plate

For the use of non-standard size shim plate, for

example, although the smaller-than-standard shim plates are
easier to ram, the bending point may occur at the corners of
the shim plate. This is because the force which arises during
the kiln rotation is likely to break the bricks when the non-
standard size shim plates are used. (Normally the standard
size shim plate is 20 mm smaller than brick size as shown in
figure 9-1)

Fig. 9-1: Comparison between the standard shim plate (left),

and the smaller-than-standard shim plate (right)
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Solution: Completely stop using the non-standard size shim

plate. At the same time, try to explain the brick
installers to know and understand the drawback of
the use of the small shim plates.

9.2 Bricks installation on the seams or welding joints of

the kiln shell.

It is very difficult to tightly fit the bricks lining to the

kiln shell where there are seams or welding joints on the kiln
surfaces. Most of the time, the brick installers will solve the
problem by using the strip plate to adjust the brick alignment.
Sometimes, 1-3 strip plates are used to adjust the alignment at
the same position.

Fig. 9-2: Bricks lining installed on the kiln shell with

seams or welding joints.
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Strip
Plate

Strip
Plate

Fig. 9-3: Bricks installed on the non smooth shell by

using a strip plate.

Solutions:
1. Inspect the condition of the kiln shell since the
brick demolishing stage, and try to smooth the
deformed shell by using grinding machine. If the
above method is not applicable, use the Air
Setting type refractory mortar. It should be
mixed 24 hrs. before the application so that the
mortar become sticky and slippery and easier to
be applied. The mortar should be gradually
applied to the brick surface until the lining is
back to the correct alignment.
2. Do not use strip plate to adjust brick lining
alignment. By doing so, there will be a bending
point on the brick surfaces, causing the bricks
around those area to be twisted and broken
down, especially when more than one strip plate
are used.
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9.3 Brick surfaces adjustment where the connecting lining

is distorted

While the demolishing car is removing the bricks, it

may damage the rings that are in good condition and do not
need to be removed. If the old brick surface is not adjusted,
their capability to under load will be reduced. Especially if the
damaged areas are at the bottom and sit on the kiln shell, this
damage will be invisible when new bricks are installed.

Fig. 9-4: The connecting rings where the surfaces are not
adjusted.
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SRIC

Fig. 9-5: The damages on bottom surfaces sit on the kiln

shell.

Solutions: Use Refractory Mortar or Refractory Castable

(remove the coarse grains) to completely fill the
damaged brick surfaces before installing the new
bricks. This will increase the surface areas of
the bricks and make them more sustainable to
the compressive load. This method is better
than using the Refractory Mortar to fill the gaps
when the new brick installation is completed.

9.4 Folding down the final shim plate

In shimming the steel plate to tighten the ring, it is

possible that the last shim plate cannot be rammed by
hammer. When this happens, the shim plate will be folded
down, as illustrated in the picture below. By doing this way,
it is found that the bricks are cracked and the cracks are
invisible because they are blocked by the Mult-O-Ring. They
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will be visible when the Mult-O-Ring is moved to the next

ring, and it is very difficult and time consuming to repair at
that stage.

Fig. 9-6: Folding down the shim plate.

Solution: Since the last shim plate cannot be rammed, it

should be taken out. Then the previously rammed
plate should be changed to 2 mm. thick instead of
3 mm thick. When following this procedure the
last shim plate with 3 mm thickness can be
completely rammed to tighten the ring.
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9.5 The damage of the first ring at the Kiln Outlet

When the Rotary Kiln is shut down, it is found that

the first brick ring, which connects to the castable at the Kiln
Outlet, is damaged. This is because the first ring is being
compressed by the load of the remaining ring due to the
inclined alignment of the Rotary Kiln. Another factor of
bricks being damaged is the expansion of the bricks when
they are exposed to a very high temperature. Sometimes, this
damage is very severe and may lead to the production
breakdown.

Fig. 9-7: Damages of the first brick ring connecting to

the Kiln Outlet

Solutions:
1. Choose the brick quality of the first 2-3 rings at the
retaining ring which connects to the Castable to be
High Alumina like BA 85, for example. Since High
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Alumina bricks have a higher thermal strength (Hot

MOR) than those Basic Bricks (Spinel and Magnesia
Chrome Bricks), they can better sustain the
compressive load delivered by the overall weight of
Kiln Bricks along with the weight of the Clinker.
Moreover, they also have higher ability to resist the
compressive force arises from the expansion of bricks
at high temperature than those Basic Bricks. With
these abilities, by using High Alumina Bricks, the
chance of these rings being damaged is reduced.
2. Install a 5 or 10 mm thick Ceramic Fibre Board that
can be exposed to the 1260 or 1400. The selection of
the Ceramic Fibre Board depends on the seriousness
of the damage. This installation will help reduce the
compressive reaction force done on brick due to the
expansion at higher temperature along with the bricks
load themselves.
3. Increase the height of Retaining ring in the case when
it is too low (investigate the height of the broken
bricks). The height of the new Retaining Ring should
be about 10cm or half of the brick height. The
increase in the contact surface area will help distribute
the compressive force done on bricks more evenly.
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BA 85

Ceramic
Fibre
Board

Kiln Outlet

Fig. 9-8: The damages of first 2-3 brick rings at the

Kiln Outlet

9.6 Bricks Re-Installation on Specific Area

It is discovered that in some area of the kiln there are

several damaged bricks which are not in the specified re-
installation areas but have an inappropriate thickness. These
bricks need to be reinstalled so that all the bricks in the kiln
last until the next Kiln Stop Plan.
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Fig. 9-9: Small area of damage that need a reparation.

Solutions : The re-installation procedures are as follows

1. Rotate the kiln until the re-installation area
is at the bottom half position for more
convenience.
2. Ram in the shim plate or wooden wedge
around the damaged bricks area in order to
lock them in place before removing the
surrounding bricks.
3. Clearly demolish the bricks in that area,
and also clean the Kiln Shell.
4. Install a new brick in that area. When the
last brick is installed in each ring, tighten
the ring by shimming plate before moving
to the next ring. Repeat the procedure for
other areas.
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Fig. 9-10: Removing damaged bricks after the area is locked.

Fig. 9-11: Tightening the ring by shimming plates

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Fig. 5-12: Condition after the reparation

Fig. 9-12: Condition after the re-installation

9.7 The unbalance space of the upper curve and lower

curve of last brick ring.

Fig. 9-13: Size of the gap at the last lower curve ring.
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Fig. 9-14: Size of the gap at the last upper curve at

the same location as in Fig.9-13.

Solution:
Follow the installation guideline as previously stated
to avoid the same problem in the next kiln brick installation.
Center reference line and the circumference reference line
must be drawn and followed strictly. In the case where this
problem already occurred, every bricks need to be cut after
the misalignment distance has been measured accurately.
Each cut brick must be labeled to indicate its position. The
L300 brick may be cut and used in the lower curve, and the
150mm brick may be cut and used in the upper curve. This
method consumes a lot of time, especially in the case where
customer does not have the brick with the mentioned size in
the warehouse some rings must be removed and reinstalled to
keep it in alignment. In some cases, more than 3 rings may
need to be reinstalled.
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9.8 Brick Installation at deformed Kiln shell area

The deformation or distortion or abnormalities, such

as swollen or bended areas in the kiln shell are often found in
the long service life kiln shell where falling down of bricks
has occurred before. Another cause is the thinness of bricks
in that area. During the operation, heat will be transferred
through thin brick to the kiln shell more than usual and lead
to the formation of red spot on the kiln shell and the
deformation of kiln shell. When the kiln shell cools down, the
deformation will become permanent, resulting in difficulties
in the next installation.

Fig. 9-15: Picture illustrating red spots on the Kiln shell

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Fig. 9-16: Picture illustrating the red spots on the kiln

shell.

Solution:
1. Check the kiln shell which has the red spot by eyes.
Next, measure the depth by laying 1-1.5 meter long
ruler or pipe down over the deformed area
lengthwise. Then, measure the depth from the gap
of ruler and kiln shell. Follow brick installation
guideline in topic 3.8
2. In this case, an extra amount of bricks with the same
shape is needed to ensure that the installed bricks
tightly fit the deformed area of the kiln shell.
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Fig. 9-17: Picture illustrating the insertion of mortar and

the increase in 622-shape bricks to ensure that
the installed bricks tightly fit the kiln shell

9.9 Brick installation on the crack area of kiln shell

The cracks on the kiln shell are caused in high stress

areas such as welded area of the kiln shell, outlet of kiln shell
and tyre ring. If the cracks are not repaired, it may enlarge
and become the cause of the break down (cut off) of the
rotary kiln.
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Welding
Point

Fig.9-18: Picture illustrating the identification of kiln shell

during the preparation for maintenance

Solution:
1. Inspect and identify the crack areas of the kiln
shell by painting them with Stain color.
2. Use gouging Electrode for gouges around the
crack area which should be around 25 mm. deeper
and 25 mm. wider than actual cracking area.
3. Clean the gouging area to eliminate Flux, scrap
iron and dust.
4. Rotate the kiln wherein the welding areas are
located at the bottom (at 6 o’clock) which is
necessary for easy and quality installation
5. Use high Mn-Cr-Ni alloy welding electrode or
better quality welding electrode such as SUS 309
Sanvik-R21 and low ampere(amp) (about 25-30
mA) to weld the damage. Then cross weld over
the crack in which the welding thickness should
be level with the kiln shell. After that, smooth the
surface with grindstone. In this case, heat treatment
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by oxygen-acetylene torch can be used before

grind welding the line.
Cracked area

Fig. 9-19: Welding the cracked area

6. In this case, refractory installation should not be

done unless permission from the person in charge
of crack repair work is given to ensure that there
will be no damage.

7. As mentioned previously, cracks are often caused

by mechanical and thermal stress. Therefore,
refractory in this area should be stress resistant or
mortar can be used to increase the flexibility of
brick installation.(See Topic 3.10)
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Fig. 9-20: Picture illustrating the installation in dam zone

over area containing repaired cracks which has been adjusted
with mortar.

9.10 Solving problem of chipped brick

The conveying process of refractory bricks into the

Rotary Kiln and the overload ramming of hammer may cause
chipping in bricks. A gap will occur between the rings where
chipped bricks are installed and the leakage of heat to the kiln
shell is likely to occur during the kiln heating up process. As
a consequent, cardboards, which are used for supporting the
brick expansion, will be burnt before the bricks expand. In
this case, the installed bricks will lose their alignment,
especially when the kiln rotates during the heating up
process.
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Gap caused by
chipped brick

Fig. 9-21: Chipping at brick corner, and the extra gap

between the rings.

Solution:
1. Improve the conveying method of bricks into the
rotary kiln.
2. Be careful with the use of hammer, especially on
the last brick.
3. Use Refractory Mortar to fill the gap.
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Fig. 9-22: Using of Refractory Mortar to fill in the

chipping marks.

9.11 Installation of the unqualified shaped High Alumina

& Fireclay Brick

- This problem is due to the manufacturing process which

cause either a, b, or l side of brick to lose its parallel
length equalization as shown in Fig.9-23.

Fig. 9-23:
Standard Wedge
Brick Used in Rotary
Kiln
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- The use of these bricks will cause misalignment of

bricks. Consequently, the use of Refractory Mortar to
adjust the misalignment, which is very time consuming,
is needed all the time.
- Unskilled or inexperienced workers can also cause the
misalignment of bricks as shows in Fig. 9-24.

Fig.9-24: Misalignment of brick from the Reference line

Solution:
1. Check the length of each side of bricks prior to
the installation in order to provide the solution
to the workers ahead of time.
2. If the shape of any brick is found to be different
from the standard shape, even the different is
just 0.5 mm, and refractory mortar is not
applied, the misalignment will take place.
3. If the amount of bricks with abnormal shape is
large, the use of Refractory Mortar may be
difficult if the workers are inexperienced and
the refractory installation will require a lot of
time.
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4. The method that does not disturb the installation

time is to switch the position of the b side by
turning the brick inside out. This will help to
solve the problem of the misalignment as shown
in Fig.9-25.

Fig. 9-25: Picture illustrating the switching of the brick

side by turning them inside out.

9.12 Refractory Installation at the slope of Kiln Outlet

The slope ring around the Kiln Outlet area is called

‘Conical Part’. High Alumina brick design in this area is
shown in Fig.9-26.
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Fig. 9-26: High Alumina brick installed at the ‘Conical

Part’ of the Kiln Outlet

Generally, the refractory installation in this area is more

difficult and time consuming. To use Mult-O-Ring in this
area, its Mult-Arch must be adjusted all the time in order for
the rubber arm to tightly touch and press the brick surface to
the kiln shell. It is often found that bricks were falling down
in this area before the Kiln Stop Plan. When a hot spot
occurs in this area often, the permanent deformation of kiln
shell may occur and will affect the refractory installation
quality in the next time.

Solution:
1. Use the Refractory Castable instead, as shown in
Fig.9-27
2. Follow the same installation method and
standard with castable installed at the outlet.
3. Since the quantity of castable used will be 4
times higher than usual, the explosion of
castable in this area may occur during the heat
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up time. So, the heat up time may need to be

expanded from 24 hr. to 36 hr. However, an
experiment may need to be performed in order
to set up a new standard.
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Fig. 9-27: Picture illustrating how Refractory Castable are

installed at the ‘Conical Part’

9.13 Gap between Brick Rings in Rotary Kiln

After the repair work of refractory in rotary kiln, if the

heat-up process confronts with any obstruction and cannot
operate simultaneously and must be shut down, the following
problem may occur. It is often found that there is a gap
between the Basic and High Alumina brick ring. This
happens when a cardboard paper attached to a Basic Brick
side burns out before the Basic Brick completely expand.
Since rotary kiln has some incline degree toward the cooler,
basic brick rings will push toward the outlet. Hence the gap
occurs between the connection between the Basic ring and
the High Alumina ring as shown in Fig.9-28.
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Fig. 9-28: Gap between rings occur after a short heat-up

period

Solution:
1. To prevent the leakage of heat from having direct
contact with the kiln shell, a Refractory Plastic,
PLAST 80, is rammed around the circumference
into that gap as shown in Fig.9-29. Plastics must
be divided into smaller pieces so that they are able
to completely fill the gap. A cut wooden pallet is
used instead of a hammer, because the gap is too
small for the actual hammer.
2. When raw materials are feed after the heating-up
process completes, its dust will also fill the gap that
has just occurred if the plastic falls down.
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Fig. 9-29: Picture illustrating the use of Refractory Plastic to

fill the gap.

9.14 Brick Installation Next to the Stopper Ring

Stopper rings at both the inlet and outlet will be welded

to the kiln shell. Because of this welding joint, bricks
installed around this area cannot be tightly fit to the kiln
shell. These loose bricks are unable to sustain the load from
both the raw material and the bricks themselves. Hence, these
bricks maybe damaged before their actual lives.
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Welding
joint

Fig. 9-30: Welding joint of stopper ring.

Solution:
In order to tightly fit refractory bricks to the stopper
ring, they must be cut according to the shape of the stopper
ring as shows in Fig 9-31. These bricks can be tightly
installed to the stopper ring as shows in Fig 9-32. If they are
still found to be loose, bricks may need to be cut again until
they perfectly fit the stopper ring. Make sure that the stopper
ring is welded perpendicularly to the kiln shell and the
reference center line.
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Fig. 9-31: Picture illustrating how bricks are cut at its cold
face.

Fig. 9-32: Picture illustrating how the cut bricks tightly fit to
the kiln shell.
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9.15 Brick Installation at the Retaining Ring at the

Middle Section of Kiln

The old method for installing bricks at the retaining ring

with a 25 mm. width is to cut bricks and install them across
the ring. However by following this method, the cutting
length is very difficult to control, and most of the time it is
longer than what is required; especially when it is cut by a
lever saw not the table saw. This, as a result, becomes a
weak point and is very risky to be broken down during the
operation compared to other points.

Fig. 9-33: Picture illustrating the across the ring method.

Solution:
In present day, if the retaining ring width is 25 mm,
Refractory Plastic, PLAST 80, is used to ram instead of the
old method as shown in Fig. 9-34. Since it is only 25 mm in
width, Plastic must be divided into small pieces, and a
wooden stick is used instead of hammer.

Refractory
Plastics

Fig. 9-34: Picture illustrating the use of Refractory Plastic

on the retaining ring.