PREPRINT Global and Indian perspectives of alumina-spinel lining concepts in a steel ladle Andreas Buhr* Almatis GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany Atanu Ranjan Pal, Brijender Singh, Prasanta Panigrahi Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur, India Abstract Developments in high quality steel production e.g. for automotive applications require adjustments of the steel ladle lining. Apart from lining life and direct refractory cost, other aspects such as ladle capacity, impact on steel quality, and energy saving have gained importance in the "Total cost of ownership" approaches. The paper describes the development of alumina-spinel lining concepts and discusses specific advantages in a modern steel ladle lining. Recent developments around the availability of magnesia and it's pricing from China, have triggered other considerations and projects to investigate the replacement of magnesia-carbon by alumina-spinel materials in a steel ladle lining. 1. Introduction Developments in steel technology over the past 50 years have led to substantial weight reduction in combination with improved strength properties as shown in fig. 1. Ultra-low carbon (ULC) and high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel grades have been developed for automotive use. These require advanced processing during secondary metallurgy in the steel ladle 2) . 30 to 40 % of production from leading West European flat steel producers is automotive high quality steel. Fig. 1 Steel development for packaging and automotive 1) . Indian steel production is continuously growing and reached 106.5 million tonnes in 2018. About 50 % of it is flat steel, but only 7 to 10 % is automotive high quality steel. About 45 % of such steel in India is produced by Tata Steel. The Indian auto industry is growing at above 10 % CAGR with international companies also establishing production in India. Consequently Indian steel companies have started to look at global end user markets and adapting trends from other regions. The refractory lining of the steel ladle also contributes to achieving the desired steel quality 2) and alumina-spinel materials provide advantages for high quality steel production. The development of such ladle linings, and some key aspects of that development, will be discussed in this paper. 2. Requirements for steel ladle lining The refractory lining in steel ladles must fulfil various requirements as shown in fig. 2. This compares the relative importance of different factors between the 1990s and 2010s. Safety was always the ultimate pre-requisite and therefore has not been mentioned here. Ladle capacity and steel quality have gained importance over the past 25 years, and there is also a greater focus on energy saving. Simple refractory cost and lining life are no longer the main considerations. Other factors are now involved making it a more complex problem. Fig. 2 Requirements for steel ladle lining - 1990s and 2010s; safety was a pre-requisite at all times. 3. Alumina-spinel ladle lining In the 1990s spinel (MgAl2O4) was introduced to alumina pre-cast shapes such as purging plugs, well blocks and impact pads, and has become the global industry standard. Alumina-rich spinels such as AR