Almatis has appointed Stefan Rieder as Chief Commercial Officer as per 1st of November 2016. As member of the Almatis Executive Committee and located in the group's global head office in Frankfurt, Mr. Rieder will be responsible for Global Sales, Marketing and Business Development driving the growth strategy of Almatis as the leading player in the field of specialty alumina.  Mr. Rieder joins with 20 years of international business management experience gained in chemical, specialty glass and plastics industries for companies like Hoechst AG, SCHOTT AG and Borealis AG whereas he spent the majority of his career on international assignments in Europe and Asia where he successfully managed 

In 2011 Almatis introduced a new high alumina sintered aggregate to the market – BSA 96. The idea was to offer a European alternative to other high alumina aggregates – fused, natural or sintered. This paper will present a brief overview of the special characteristics of BSA 96 and describe the experience over the past five years using BSA 96 in various applications such as AMC bricks, high alumina bricks and blast furnace runner castables. Special focus will be on the formation of so-called CAM phases found in sintered castables with BSA 96 as the matrix component together with fine spinel and cement.

With the challenging economics of today’s global aluminum industry driving significant changes in the North American non-metallurgical alumina industry, Almatis has the commitment and capability to deliver its customers uninterrupted, secure local supply for their specialty alumina needs. Backward integrated with the 2013 purchase of the Burnside alumina refinery, Almatis has unique control of its supply chain and can provide its customers long-term stability in this time of big industry shifts. The recent announcements of curtailment and financial protection of the three other U.S. alumina refineries exposes the potential vulnerability of non-metallurgical alumina buyers to the swings in metal values.

The permanent development of steel producing technology is a main driver for the development of new and improved refractories. The paper briefl y discusses the trends in steel secondary metallurgy and how modern engineered refractories provide innovative solutions for challenging conditions in the steel making process. Examples are given how refractories contribute to steel quality and economical improvements in the process.

flow calorimetry and quantitative in-situ X-ray diffraction (QXRD) during hydration. Heat flow was calculated by combining the QXRD data obtained during hydration of the mixes together with the standard enthalpies of formation of the participating phases. Comparing the observed heat flow from calorimetry with the heat flow calculated from QXRD data, good conformance could be obtained. The results show a clear pronounced influence of CA2 on hydration of CAC and its heat of hydration during the first 22 hours. After more than 10 hours the hydration of CA2 gives the major contribution to the heat flow. Introduction The hydration of calcium-mono-aluminate (CA) is part of several previous investigations and is well known. In common calcium aluminate cements (CAC) CA is the main hydraulic phase responsible for early strength development. Although recent investigations showed that CA reactivity can be increased by its fineness [1], it is worth having a closer look at CA2 - the second main phase in most white CACs. CA2 is known to be weakly hydraulic and was not of great interest in past investigations which looked into the hydration of CAC [2]. The hydration of synthesised CA and CA2 in different ratios together with ZrSiO4 as an inert filler, were investigated with isothermal heat flow calorimetry and in-situ X-ray diffraction. Through a combination of both methods the heat flow contributions of CA and CA2 were evaluated.

Alumina, due to its powerful physical, thermal and electrical properties is by far the most used and cost-effective ceramic material in technical applications. As a result of the high mechanical strength, excellent chemical resistance, electrical properties and dimensional stability at high temperatures, alumina ceramics makes an ideal material for many parts in automotive applications. Some of the typical applications include catalytic substrates, electronic substrates, various mechanical wear parts, spark plugs and polishing. Almatis offers the broadest alumina portfolio in the industry with a broad variety of product solutions for the industry.