It turns out that the high strength refractory concrete I use for my furnace is based on "Ciment Fondu" a calcium aluminate cement. The stuff comes in several grades with the whiter, purer stuff being high temperature and brown, grey, white and refractory grades being made. The aggregate mixed in also determines the upper temperature limit with recipes for 1350 degrees C shown. It has the following properties: high strength, high curing speed, high temperature capability and high price. My price for a bag is AUD $77 versus AUD $50 for a premix 1650 deg C refractory concrete but if you add sand and aggregate in the normal 1:3:3 concrete ratios that would be enough ciment fondu for seven bags of refractory. https://www.fondu-technology.com/en/products/ciment-fondu-en/ https://www.bcsands.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=11947
I just rang the local cement supply shop they had "grey" ciment fondu for $47 per 25 Kg bag, the counter jumper claimed 2000 deg C/ 3632 F temp resistance . He's going to get me a price on the white grade cement. Even so just being able to buy local is a huge advantage as the nearest supplier is 1800 Km's away and sells 20 Kg bags of refractory for about $75 ($50 +$25 freight) landed at my door. Edit: Aggregates that can be used and their temp ratings
I priced some fused brown aluminium oxide as 12 grit blasting media: AUD $129.70 for 25 Kgs: very pricy considering how dense the stuff is and how small the bag is. According to the aggregate link above that would get you to a 1750 deg C / 3182 deg F service temperature when used with white ciment fondu. It looks like any decent high temp aggregate is going to be some sort of high temperature fused mineral, like aluminium oxide, magnesium oxide, zirconium oxide which are all going to be a bit expensive.
can you translate that into Yank. eighter I call a concrete company, that demands my contractor LIC number or go to the hardware store V/r HT1
This is my local concretor's supply shop, it's like a hardware store for all the tools, reinforcing, cement etc. that a concretor would need to do a job. A "Counter Jumper" is slang for the guy behind the counter that serves you, usually never energetic enough to actually hurdle a counter. I always wear "Hi vis yellow" shirts when visiting them to help blend in. Aussie concretors all look and sound like the guy in the video below:
