Located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, HWI’s Advanced Technology Research Center (ATRC) stands as North America’s largest refractory research and development facility. Purpose-built to accelerate innovation and strengthen customer partnerships, the ATRC serves as a hub for learning, testing, exploration, and product advancement across the refractory industry.
Designed to bridge laboratory science with real-world applications, the ATRC is strategically organized into different integrated operational units: specialized laboratories, a pilot plant, fully equipped kiln room, and a state of the art analytical laboratory. Together, these capabilities enable HWI to move seamlessly from concept to commercialization while ensuring consistent product quality and performance.
Customer-Focused Solution Development
At the core of the ATRC is a team of over 30 R&D experts—engineers, material scientists, application professionals and skilled research technicians —who work directly with customers to solve complex thermal processing challenges. This collaborative approach allows HWI to design, test, and trial new refractory products and applications tailored to specific operating conditions.
Rather than developing materials in isolation, the ATRC emphasizes customer-focused solution development. Teams conduct comprehensive technical analyses to understand wear mechanisms, operating environments, and performance expectations. This data-driven approach ensures that new product formulations are engineered not only for laboratory success, but for measurable improvement in the field.
Capabilities include:
- Custom refractory formulation and design
- Benchmark testing against industry standards
- Failure and wear analysis of used refractory products
- Application-specific performance validation
- Quality assurance testing prior to commercialization
By combining advanced materials science with application expertise, the ATRC helps customers reduce downtime, extend campaign life, and improve operational efficiency.
Pilot Plant: From Innovation to Scalable Manufacturing and Installation Validation
A distinguishing feature of the ATRC is its fully equipped pilot plant, which has the unique ability to replicate the manufacturing processes of HWI’s production facilities. This capability ensures that new refractory products can be manufactured and evaluated under realistic production conditions before full-scale rollout.
The pilot plant supports the development of both shaped and monolithic refractory products, enabling process validation, scale-up trials, and manufacturing optimization. By mimicking plant operations, the ATRC reduces risk, accelerates time-to-market, and ensures product consistency across facilities. In addition to stimulating manufacturing conditions, the ATRC can replicate field installation techniques with gunning and shotcreting capabilities.
These manufacturing and installation simulation capabilities provide a critical link between R&D innovation and operational and application execution—an essential component for delivering reliable, high-performance refractory solutions.
Advanced Analytical Capabilities
Supporting R&D, commercial, and production functions is the ATRC’s analytical laboratory. The analytical group ensures rigorous adherence to quality protocols and testing methodologies.
The Analytical laboratory conducts:
- Routine chemical analyses
- Standard physical property testing (e.g., density, porosity, strength)
- Thermal property evaluation
- Advanced and “exotic” property testing required for best-in-class refractory brands
In addition to the above, the analytical team plays a vital role in benchmark comparisons and detailed failure investigations through post-mortem analyses. By identifying root causes of material degradation—whether chemical attack, thermal shock, mechanical stress, or operational variables—the ATRC provides actionable insights that drive continuous product improvement.
Education and Industry Training
Beyond research and manufacturing support, the ATRC also serves as a knowledge center for refractory education. The facility hosts training programs ranging from introductory refractory fundamentals to highly customized, industry-specific technical sessions.
These programs combine classroom instruction with hands-on demonstrations in the laboratory and pilot plant environments. Participants gain practical understanding of refractory materials, installation best practices, failure mechanisms, and performance optimization strategies.
By sharing expertise directly with customers and industry professionals, the ATRC strengthens technical understanding across the supply chain and reinforces HWI’s role as a total refractory solutions partner.
A Foundation for Innovation
The ATRC represents more than a research facility—it is a strategic platform for advancing refractory technology in North America. Through integrated R&D, manufacturing simulation, advanced analytical capabilities, and technical education, the center ensures that innovation is practical, scalable, and performance-driven.
With ISO-certified processes and a dedicated team of experts working alongside customers, HWI’s ATRC continues to set the benchmark for refractory research, testing, and solution development.
About HWI, A member of Calderys
HWI is one of the leading suppliers of refractory products and services in the United States, with a history that spans 160 years. It is part of Calderys and is the brand for the Americas region of the Group. HWI operates an extensive network of manufacturing sites and distribution centers across the Americas, along with the largest refractory industry research facility in North America. Serving virtually every major industry that requires refractory solutions to enhance production and protect assets, HWI is consistently recognized for its talented experts, industry firsts, and intensely driven excellence.
For more information, visit https://thinkhwi.com