Product development and laboratory

For us, product development means much more than creating entirely new products. It can mean adapting an existing product to a customer’s process, testing new or alternative raw materials, or solving a practical problem.

Refractory materials are used in demanding conditions, which places high demands on them. Safety is paramount, but we must also consider the customer’s process, production goals, and product installation and use.

For castables, for example, drying is a critical stage for the durability of the product, and practices vary a great deal from one customer to the next. This is why product development can never focus on the material alone. We also need to understand how the product is installed, dried and commissioned.

The tests we carry out in the real operating environment are an important part of our development work, because conditions in the laboratory are always very different.

How development work progresses

The need for development usually arises with the customer, and the message typically reaches us through Betker’s technical support: a product needs a little more of a certain property, or slightly different behaviour.

In the laboratory, experienced specialists assess which change is likely to help, and the options are then tested in practice. A small adjustment, such as a change to the binder system, can be identified in as little as a week. When the change involves the base raw materials, we allow a longer timeframe, as sourcing and testing new materials takes time.

A minor recipe change can go straight into the next production batch. A bigger change is first trialled with the customer using a small test batch, and once the results are good, we continue with the new recipe. If something does not work as hoped, we first find out what fell short and continue development from there.

Examples of our development work

Explore development projects carried out together with our customers:

Developing the upper rim of a steel ladle

Together with the customer, we developed a better-performing solution for the upper rim of the ladle.

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A reusable injection lance for steelmaking

In the new lance design, the upper section is reused across several operating cycles, cutting material waste and costs in ladle treatment.

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innovatiivinen lanssiratkaisu teräksenvalmistukseen

Developing a melting furnace mouth element for the foundry environment

The mouth element for a melting furnace was developed to withstand the demanding conditions of a foundry.

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The laboratory tests every production batch

Betker’s own laboratory is located at our Ylivieska production unit and handles both product development and quality assurance. Samples are taken from every production batch made at the unit during production. Once the batch is complete, test pieces are made from the material and fired at different temperatures, up to 1,600°C.

Basic tests are carried out on practically every product:

product density
cold crushing strength after firing at different temperatures
permanent linear change
weight loss

We also assess the product’s workability: with castables, for example, we test flow and setting, the properties that determine how well installation goes at the customer’s site. When interpreting the results, the key is to understand the whole picture and how the individual results depend on one another.

Everyday tools include sieves for monitoring particle size distribution, presses for strength testing, and mixers that look remarkably like the dough mixers you would find in a bakery.

Quality assurance for recycled materials

Recycled raw materials are an important part of Betker’s products. Quality is determined by how the material is handled at its point of origin: the fines are separated out, and Betker takes the coarse fraction. Where needed, the material is sorted again in production.

In the laboratory, recycled material is monitored for loss on ignition, which confirms there are no volatile substances present, and for particle size distribution after crushing. Experienced laboratory technicians also carry out a visual inspection.

The toughest technical challenge is consistency, which can never be fully guaranteed in advance. That is why we test frequently enough to spot any changes straight away. We want to keep increasing the share of recycled material, but in a controlled way: thinking carefully about which recycled materials suit which products.

Product development across both production units

Betker has two production units: Ylivieska in Finland and Åheim in Norway. Product development serves both, and we work closely with the team at Åheim. A major joint project in 2026 has been replacing certain raw materials in Åheim’s products with alternatives that are safer from an occupational health perspective.

Our product development and laboratory team

Our product development is led by R&D Manager Teija Saarnio. The team combines long hands-on experience, deep materials knowledge and strong laboratory expertise, and several team members have been with Betker for a decade or more.

“Product development at Betker exists for the customer. We are a knowledgeable, friendly bunch, and you can turn to us with all kinds of questions. We are happy to help.”
─ Teija Saarnio, R&D Manager

Read Teija’s story

Our product development goals

We work closely with our raw material suppliers. With trusted suppliers, we can bounce ideas around when a product calls for a new property, and when needed, samples are also analysed in partner laboratories.

Over the next few years, our goal is to develop methods that allow us to better study the conditions of the customer’s process and how our products behave in those conditions, even better in the laboratory. Broader industry trends are visible in our work as well: the environmental impact of materials and the chemicals used are receiving ever more attention.