According to the construction method and material properties, the common unshaped refractory materials can be divided into castable, plastic, ramming material, gunning material, projection material and coating, etc.

Castable is a kind of granular and powdery material made of refractory material, which is composed of a certain amount of binder and water. It does not need to be hardened by heating, so it is suitable for construction. It is composed of binder, binder or other refractory. Generally in the use of the site by pouring, vibration or tamping method pouring molding, can also be made into prefabricated parts for use.

Castable refractory is one of the most widely used amorphous refractories. It is mainly used to construct lining and other integral structures of various heating furnaces. Some high quality varieties can also be used in smelting furnace. It can be widely used for heating cement and other refractory without acid and alkali. The fire-resistant castable made of high-quality granular and powder materials with high alumina content, which is combined with low calcium and pure high alumina cement, can be used in the parts with high working temperature due to the erosion of molten iron, molten steel and slag, such as tapping trough, ladle, blast furnace shaft and tapping groove.

Another example is phosphate refractory castable, which can be widely used in heating furnace and soaking furnace for heating metal, but also can be used in coke oven and cement kiln directly contacting with materials. In some parts of metallurgical furnace and other vessels in direct contact with slag and molten metal, the use of high-quality phosphate refractory castable can also achieve good results.

With the increase of the proportion of amorphous refractories in refractories, refractory castables will develop rapidly. At the same time, the varieties and quality of castables will be improved accordingly. The emphasis will still be on the development of low cement, ultra-low cement and cement-free castables. In combination with resource conditions, homogenization and high-quality raw materials and special aggregates are selected to improve the basic composition, and fiber reinforced refractory casting is studied and popularized In order to improve the properties of refractory castables, various admixtures are used to improve the properties of castables.