In the cast house, mud is taphole clay, a resin- or tar-bonded mix of alumina, silicon carbide, coke and clay that the mud gun pushes into the taphole to close it after a cast and that bakes into a plug. Its quality decides taphole length and stability. On a relining crew, mud is simply mortar, as in mixing a box of mud. Context always tells which one is meant.
Mud gun pushed 120 kilos, hole's closed, tell the drill crew we're on the other side next cast.
Also heard as
- taphole clay
- mortar
Related terms
Taphole
Opening through a furnace wall or bottom through which molten metal and slag are drained.
Refractory mortar
Fine refractory mix used to lay and bond firebrick, either heat-setting, air-setting or phosphate-bonded.
Butter
To spread mortar onto the faces of a brick before setting it in place.
Elephant foot
Blast furnace hearth wear profile where the wall-to-floor corner erodes into the shape of an elephant's foot.