Crucible wear

occurs due to the enormous temperature stress on the fireproof lining and the mechanical abrasion during charging. As a rule, crucible furnaces are designed so that they can stand wear to the wall of approx. 30% of the total nominal wall thickness. However, since this wear does not usually occur evenly over the wall surface, measurements of the crucible must be carried out from time to time. In the case of premature wear, this is referred to as an “elephant’s foot”, which can occur more frequently with mains frequency systems than with medium-fre- quency systems. This wear can be continually monitored with the aid of the “Saveway” system described above.