Refractory ramming mix containing aluminum powder for metal melting furnaces

A dry refractory ramming or vibration cement for forming monolithic linings in situ in metal furnaces consisting of coarse, intermediate, and fine particles of a crystalline refractory selected from the group consisting of alumina, alumina-chromia, zirconia, spinel, silica, silicon carbide, magnesia-chromia, zircon, mullite, magnesia, and combinations thereof, up to 5% of an intermediate temperature flux, and finely particulate aluminum having a particle size of 10 microns or less sufficiently finely divided to oxidize to alumina in situ during the operation of the furnace, said aluminum being present in an amount insufficient to produce a direct electrical path through the rammed refractory mix, and insufficient to completely fill the pores of the rammed mix upon oxidation to alumina, but being present in an amount at least equal to 0.3% and not more than 3%, by weight, of the mixture solids.