In recent years, the promotion of new processes and technologies for steel production, as well as the requirements for energy saving and environmental protection, have put forward more special requirements for new refractories. From the perspective of future development, new types of refractories will include high-performance structural and functional refractories.

       1.Structural refractory

       The overall development trend of structural refractories will be high purity, densification, precision, popularization of carbon-containing refractories, compounding and indetermination of oxide and non-oxide materials. Especially the amorphous refractories will have a larger application market in the future, because it has the advantages of short production cycle, energy saving, good integrity, strong adaptability, good comprehensive use and so on. The technical development trend of the amorphous refractory itself has the following aspects.

       1. In terms of materials: In recent years, the materials of amorphous refractory materials are developing from neutral and acidic oxide materials to basic oxide materials and oxide and non-oxide composite materials, from low purity to high purity. The raw materials have evolved from natural refractory materials to synthetic refractory materials.

       2. Combination method: In recent years, the combination of amorphous refractories has developed in the direction of hydration bonding → chemical bonding → hydration bonding + cohesion bonding → polymerization bonding → cohesion bonding.

       3. Workability: In recent years, the workability of the unshaped refractory has developed from difficult to thixotropic to non-thixotropic (easy to flow). From the perspective of rheology, that is, from plastic-elastic to visco-plastic-elastic and visco-plastic.

       4. Blended water consumption: In recent years, the blended water consumption of amorphous refractories is developing from high moisture to low moisture and no moisture. The most remarkable new technological breakthroughs made by amorphous refractories include self-bound amorphous refractories, self-sintering amorphous refractories, and self-flowing amorphous refractories.