Time-dependent deformation of a material held under constant stress at high temperature, measured in compression as percent change over tens of hours under methods such as ASTM C832. Creep matters wherever refractories carry weight hot for long periods: hot blast stove domes and checkers, glass furnace crowns, coke oven walls and tall stacks. Glassy bonds creep; well-sintered, low-impurity materials such as silica brick and mullite resist it.
Checkers in stove 2 are showing creep, the bottom courses are bulging and the flues are pinching shut.
Also heard as
- creep deformation
- compressive creep
Related terms
RUL
Refractoriness under load: the temperature at which a refractory starts to deform under a small steady load.
Silica brick
Brick of over 93 percent silica with high hot strength but sharp volume changes when cooled below red heat.
Checker
Brick laid in an open lattice inside a regenerator or hot blast stove to store and return heat.
HMOR
Hot modulus of rupture: the bending strength of a refractory measured at high temperature.