In the modern steelmaking industry, refractories serve as the "protective armor" for steelmaking equipment, and their performance directly affects production efficiency, product quality and equipment service life. With the continuous advancement of steelmaking technologies, the refractory system has also undergone constant innovation and upgrading, forming specialized and systematic technical solutions.

As the primary equipment in modern steelmaking, converters operate under extremely harsh service conditions. In the current mainstream configuration, magnesia-carbon brick systems are widely adopted for critical components such as furnace hoods, tapholes, molten baths and hearth bottoms. Composed mainly of 70–75% MgO and 16–20% graphite, these refractories achieve a bulk density of 2.8–2.9 g/cm³ and a compressive strength of 25–30 MPa through optimized particle grading and bonding systems.Notably, for trunnions and slag lines that endure higher mechanical stress, high-strength magnesia-carbon bricks are employed to enhance the compressive strength to a range of 30–42 MPa.

Latest technological advances indicate that the introduction of nano-carbon materials and rare earth oxide modifiers has improved the oxidation resistance of the new-generation magnesia-carbon bricks by over 40%. Practical application data from a large domestic steel plant shows that gradient composite-structured magnesia-carbon bricks used in slag lines have extended their service life from the original 900 heats to 1500 heats, significantly reducing the refractory consumption per ton of steel produced.