Nanomaterials lead to interesting advances in refractory technology. This article provides an overview of recent developments. During the past 11 years, governments and companies worldwide have invested an estimated US$ 60-70 billion in nanotechnology research. Markets for nanotechnology-based products are expected to grow from US$ 147 billion in 2007 to US4 3.1 trillion by 2015. Close to 2000 companies - mainly in the USA, Western Europe, and Japan - work exclusively on nanotechnology-based products and produced 2000-5000 new patents each year since 2007. The results of these efforts are reflected in electronics, medicine and cosmetics, food and agriculture, and instrumentation techniques. These products significantly improve the quality of life of the millions of people who use them. Despite their significant impact, the benefits of nanotechnology in other industrial fields such as refractories, are less obvious because of three factors. First, relatively few people have direct involvement with refractory processes, which means that most are unaware of what refractory brick or castables are or do. Second, numerous variables make measuring the benefit produced by a single modification in a castable or brick formulation difficult. And third, confidentiality issues regarding some developments and projects preclude information about them from reaching the media.
