The invention relates to a system for treating a refractory batch, a use of the system, a method for treating a refractory batch, and a use of a mould.

A mould liner for a fabrication assembly is disclosed. The fabrication assembly is for fabricating an elongate concrete article in a substantially upright orientation and includes a core assembly and an outer mould assembly defining a mould cavity between the core assembly and an inner moulding surface of the outer mould assembly with the outer mould assembly being separable following casting of the elongate concrete article to strip the outer mould assembly from the elongate concrete article. The mould liner during casting forms an intermediate layer between the inner moulding surface of the outer mould assembly and the elongate concrete article being cast, wherein on stripping of the core and outer mould assemblies following casting, the mould liner is adapted to form an outer containment layer to the elongate concrete article.

A method of fabricating a composite material part includes injecting under pressure a slurry containing a powder of refractory ceramic particles into a fiber texture; and draining the liquid of the slurry that has passed through the fiber texture, while retaining the powder of refractory ceramic particles within the texture to obtain a fiber preform filled with refractory ceramic particles. The injection tooling includes a porous material mold including an internal housing in which the fiber texture is placed, the slurry being injected into the fiber texture via an injection port in the injection tooling and leading into the internal housing of the mold. The tooling includes a rigid material enclosure in which the porous material mold is held while the slurry is injected under pressure and while the liquid of the slurry is drained, the liquid of the slurry being discharged via a vent present in the enclosure.

The invention relates to a method for producing a dimensionally stable concrete workpiece characterised in that to produce the concrete workpiece a fully-sealed dimensionally stable form (20) is filled with fresh concrete in a predetermined geometry, during the subsequent and undisrupted hydratation a predetermined temperature distribution of the walls (21, 22) of the form (20) surrounding the hydrated concrete is carried out and the concrete workpiece is shaped at a compressive strength of more than 10 MPa. The maximum size of the fresh concrete has a diameter of less than 20% of the smallest measurement of the shape.

A plastic encased mandrel includes an open cell carbonaceous foam that is shaped to correspond to a core of a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) part. A polyvinyl butyral (PVB) plastic is injection molded into the carbonaceous foam, before or after shaping, to encase the carbonaceous foam core and form an encased mandrel. The open cell carbonaceous foam may be silicon carbide (SiC) foam or reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) foam. The foam core may be incorporated into the CMC part when SiC foam is used for better distribution of thermal and structural loads or the foam core may be removed from the CMC part when RVC foam is used, such as when a CMC vane incorporates a metal spar.